


m- 



[fjWtf»*!C<»*«iJ*5»i»l«<«Wfifeft«'^. 









0' 






^^ 






,0 ^ 



i^ ^ 



■^^^-«^o^^.^-^ 



-> _ 



x'^'■%, 






\» s ' "^ / C' \V ^ 






> V 






'^-^ ^^-"^ 



A 



;\;;o..-^'^^ow.,;-^ 



.A^- 



A^ 



vv 

O, ' 
3, •?» -^^ 






0^ ^.\....V^^^^^ •- 



%^^oTo^^^^- 



xV<i 



* .\^ ^. ■■•■ %; 






'^s- 



.-^-^ 







.^' 



,0- 







%^^' 



^^l-TT^h 



<?- 



.->• 



»<!■ 



A °.. 



9 I 



X^ .-'^ 







'v''^-"'o^' 



A 



V. 






''^:- 






%4^ 



-^ 






^^^^. 



. -^ 



"%^ "^ 



'^, V 









•^-^ >: 



.^' .-rlCi^%'. '"^^ .X 









;3 






4< 



H °- 









\' 



A^ 



'•°--*, 



oP C,' 









) N C 



-v 



%-'^ 

<) -^ 









^^ %,<^' ^ 



>^^ 

'^^ \ 
^ qX 



^^%^^ 



^^ 






o, * 



N^ 



H ^^ 



:'^>^'n:v:....^^ 



"^t 





















7^^-,,-' 



cT' 






^'^ 



.0^ 







^0 






.\^ ^ 







V 



r^0 



X -TV 



v'^' r ,<? 5>. '^ 






V- 









.x^'"% 



%.^ 






O > 



O 



"^V 




Fi<;. 1. In the AVoods 



FIRST BOOK OF 
FORESTRY 



BY 

( : 

FILIBERT ROTH 

Chief of the Division of Forestry, United States Department of the 

INTERIOR, IN CHARGE OF THE WORK IN THE GOVERNMENT FOREST 

Reserves, and formerly Assistant Professor of 
Forestry in Cornell University 



3303J 5 J333g}^ 



Boston, U.S.A., and London 

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

Cbe ^tbenaeum Precis 

1902 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Cowbb Recsived 

OCT. 1 1902 

. COPVWIQHT ENTRY 

CLASS ^ XXa No. 
COPY 9. 



Entered at Stationers' Hall 



Copyright, 1902 
By filibert roth 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



o *■ • • 
»• • • 



• • « 

« c c c 



• • • • 



•-• •.« 



q,v 



A 



PREFACE 

During the last twenty years the general interest in forestry 
has grown with remarkable rapidity in all parts of our country. 
The federal government has set aside large forest reserves, and 
several states have established reservations or parks. The pri- 
vate owners of large tracts of forest lands are employing trained 
foresters to care for their property, and an improvement in the 
smaller holdings is everywhere noticeable. 

Forestry is taught in two special schools in America, and 
elementary courses on the subject are given in several colleges 
and preparatory schools. A desire has been expressed to intro- 
duce this useful and interesting study into our public schools 
and country homes, and this volume is an attempt to provide a 
book on the subject which shall satisfy this demand. In keep- 
ing with this purpose there has been no attempt to write a text- 
book or manual of forestry; but an effort has been made to 
present in simple, non-technical language some of the general 
principles underlying the science, and to state the methods 
which are employed and the objects to be attained in the practice 
of forestry. 

Early association with the well-kept forests of Germany, 
observations made in the widely differing forest districts of our 
own country, and three years' experience in teaching forestry 
have helped to make the responsible task of preparing this book 
a pleasure. While, as a matter of course, the many excellent 
German works on forestry have served as a basis and a guide 

iii 



IV PEEFACE 

in writing the book, yet an effort has been made to use our 
own woods for illustrations and to adapt the subject-matter to 
American conditions. 

The collecting of the illustrations has been greatly facilitated 
by the kindness of Dr. L. N. Britton, Col. Wm. F. Fox, Prof. 
J. A. Holmes, Messrs. Newell and Gannett of the United States 
Geological Survey, Dr. J. T. Rothrock, Prof. N. Gifford, and 
Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. To these gentlemen 
I extend my sincere thanks. 

Especial thanks are due to Mrs. Anna B. Comstock of the 
Bureau of Nature Study of Cornell University, whose kind 
interest and request called this book into existence. Her good 
judgment has proved of great value in the arrangement of the 
subject-matter, and her assistance in seeing the book through 
the press has made its early publication possible. 

FILreERT ROTH. 



CONTENTS 



PART I — THE FOREST 

PAGE 

The Wildwoods .......... 1 

What Light and Shade do for the Woods . . 14 

What Different Soils do for the Woods ... 18 

What Moisture does for the Woods ... 24 

What Heat and Cold do for the Woods ... 32 

Woods and the Mountains ...... 37 



PART II — FORESTRY 

Raising or keeping up the Forest 41 

Coppice Woods ........ 45 

The Ordinary Timber Forest ...... 53 

Starting the Young Growth under Seed Trees . 64 

Starting the Young Growth by seeding from the Side 71 
Starting the Young Growth by Artificial Planting 

OR Sowing ......... 76 

Review of Methods ....... 95 

Care and Protection of the Forest . . . . . 97 

Thinning and Cleaning . . . . . . 98 

Protection against Injury from the Elements , . 104 

Protection against Animals ..... 115 

Protection against Injurious Plants .... 131 

Use of the Forest ........ 133 

Cutting Timber ......... 135 

Estimating and measuring Timber . . . . 164 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

PAGK 

Resin and Turpentine Industry ..... 174 

Seeds and Mast 177 

Pasturage .......... 178 

Game and Fish ........ 180 

The Business of the Forest . . . . . . .182 

Special Kinds of Forests ....... 184 

The Wood Lot 184 

Waste Lands ......... 193 

Forest Plantations on Prairies ..... 195 

Sand Dunes ......... 198 



PART III — RELATED TOPICS 

The Forest as a Protective Cover 203 

The Forests of our Country ...... 209 

Some History .......... 214 

The Wood 217 

Some Structural Features ...... 217 

Some Physical Properties ...... 227 

Some Chemical Properties ...... 230 

Wood as compared with Iron ..... 232 

How to distinguish our Common Trees . . . . 238 

Conifers . . . . . . . . • ■ 240 

Broad-Leaved Trees ....... 246 

How TO USE the Key ....... 256 



APPENDIX 

I. The Doyle-Scribner Log Scale ..... 259 

IL Tahle of Circles 260 

IIL List of Woods and Treks ...... 261 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

fiCt. page 

1. In the Woods Frontispiece 

2. Beech Woods 3 

3. The " Long-Bodied " Oak of the Forest 5 

4. The " Short-Bodied " Tree of the Open 7 

5. Badly Healed Knot 9 

6. The " Blaze " as it appeared when first made 10 

7. The " Blaze " partly healed over, as it appeared seven years ago . 1 1 

8. The " Blaze " just covered, as it looks now 12 

9. Nature's Methods are Wasteful 13 

10. Even Spruce is made to " clean " itself 15 

11. " Leaders " on White Pine and Balsam 19 

12. Longleaf Pine -1 

13. Too Dry for Forest 25 

14. Too Much Water kills 27 

15. Used to Water 29 

16. Cypress Swamp 31 

17. Palmetto 33 

18. Coniferous Forests alone climb our High ^Mountain Ranges . . 39 

19 a. Coppice Woods 42 

19 h. Coppice Woods 43 

20. Stump and Sprouts 47 

21. The Wrong Way to cut the Stumps 49 

22. The Right Way to cut the Stumps 49 

23. A Little Light starts Young Growth 55 

24. Young Growth of White Pine under Old Seed Trees 67 

25. Natural Seeding from the Side 73 

26. White-Pine Cone, Seed, and Seedling 77 

27. Drill Board '^1 

28. Seed Beds ^'-^ 

29. Seedlings ^<j 

30. Planting in Old Burned-over Slash Land in Adii'oudacks ... 87 

vii 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTKATIOXS 

FIG. TAGE 

31. Planting Tools 89 

3"2. Pine Grove from Planted Seed 91 

33. An Oak Grove from Artificial Seeding 93 

34. Which should come out? 99 

35. Thinned, but will need it again 101 

36. A "Burn" 103 

37. Tangle after Fire 105 

38. The Camp Fire as it should be 107 

39. Trenching a Forest Fire Ill 

40. Fighting Fire in the Adirondacks 113 

41. The Fires have cleaned up 114 

42. A Fire " Slash " in the Adirondacks 117 

43. The Imported Elm Leaf Beetle 119 

44. Pine Weevil: Adult Beetle, Pupa, and Grub, or Larva .... 120 

45. Scale Insect on White-Pine Leaves 121 

46. Bark Beetles and their Work 122 

47. A Destroyer of Forest and Shade Tree: the White-Marked Tus- 

sock Moth 123 

48. Fall AVebworm 125 

49. One of the Greatest Friends of the Forest 127 

50. Cutting Spruce in the Adirondacks 135 

51. The Tools we use 137 

52. Skidding Spruce Logs in the Adirondacks 138 

53. " Scaling," or measuring and stamping or marking Spruce Logs . 139 

54. The " Landing " on Ampersand Creek, near " Driving Time " . 141 

55. Boiling in Spruce Logs on Ampersand Creek 143 

56. Tangent or Bastard Cut 151 

57. Rift or Quarter-sawed 151 

58. End of Log, showing Rift and Bastard Cuts 153 

59. " Bigtree " Logging in California 157 

60. Cypress Logging in Florida 159 

61. DiagTam to show how a Forty- Acre Lot is covered in estimating 

Timber 167 

62. Calipers for measuring the Diameter of Trees 171 

63. Measuring the Height of a Tree 171 

64. Scale Rules 173 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IX 

PAGE 
FKi. 

G5. In a Turpentine Orchard 175 

6(3. Game ^^\ 

67. Tapping the Sugar Maple ^^^ 

68. Old-Fashioned AVay of boiling Maple Sap 187 

69. Black Locust Plantation, Meade County, Kansas 196 

70. The Yaggy Catalpa Plantation, in Reno County, Kansas ... 197 

71. Sand Dune along the Coast 199 

72. Sand Dune in Holland, after Reclamation 200 

73. How the Forest regulates Erosion 205 

74. How the Land erodes after the Woods are gone 207 

75. General Forest Map of the United States 211 

76. Cross Section of Oak (upper), Ring-Porous Wood ; Hard Pine 

(lower), Non-Porous Wood 219 

77. Diffuse Porous AVoods 220 

78. Non-Porous AVoods 220 

79. AVood of Spruce 221 

099 

80. Spiral Gram — " 

999 

81. Shortleat Pme "— 

82. Alternating Spiral Grain in Cypress 223 

83. A Bird's-eye Board 224 

84. AVavy Grain in Beech 225 

85. Section of Knot 225 

86. Effects of Shrinkage 229 

87. " Shelf " Fungus on the Stem of a Pine 231 

88. Fungus Threads in Pine AVood 231 

89. Conifers with Leaves in Bundles 241 

90. Conifers with Leaves not in Bundles 242 

91. The Cedars 243 

92. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, Tooth-Edged Leaves 245 

93. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, Tooth-Edged Leaves 247 

94. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, but Lobed Leaves . 249 

95. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, but Lobed Leaves . 251 

96. Leaves Simple, Alternate, but with Entire Edge, and Trees with 

9 59 

Opposite Leaves : • • -'^- 

97. Compound Leaves, but Alternate 2.^3 

98. Compound Leaves, Opposite -•'^^ 



FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Part I 

THE FOUEST 

THE WILDWOODS 

It is a bright September day. Let us take a stroll 
into the wildwoods. 

Here we are. A fringe of wild rose and raspberry 
bushes introduces us to a denser border of hazel, dog- 
wood, and hawthorn, mixed with shrubby, limby trees 
of beech, maple, and elm. Let us break through the 
forest border. What a change ! Within a few steps we 
have passed from a grassy pasture, through a dense wall 
of shrubbery, into the lofty, cool, and shady forest proper. 
^ Stately trees of maple, beech, elm, and oak stand widely 
spaced; the ground is no longer covered with grass or 
shrub, but is a regular forest floor, — a thick layer of 
leaves; while the light of day is shut out above by 
a dense canopy, — a roof of branches and leaves, the 
crowns of our trees. ) 



'^ 1 



2 FIPv8T BOOK OF FORESTEY 

It is a mature old stwid ; the trees are mostly over 
two feet ill diameter and eighty to one hundred feet 
high, and it is quite safe to say that they started more 
than a hundred years ago. 

It is a mixed stand of different kinds of broad-leaved 
trees, or liard woods, with here and there a pine. Most 
of these trees are long shafted, — their trunks are long 
and free from limbs for thirty to forty feet from the 
ground, — and how greatly they differ from the beautiful 
shady elms about the house ! 

Some of the trees are not as thrifty as the rest ; they 
appear injured ; their crowns are small, and the crowns 
of the larger trees crowd and shade them. We will call 
these trees suppressed, and the larger ones dominant. 

Some of the suppressed trees are nearly or quite dead, 
and it appears that the crowding and shading cause 
this injury. 

Though there is an abundance of room on the ground, 
there are but few young trees, and these only in the places 
where the roof, or canopy, of our forest is less dense, 
where some old tree had fallen years ago. And yet these 
trees must have borne many a good crop of seed during 
their long lives. What has become of all this seed ? Did 
it fail to germinate ? Did the seedlings die ? Apparently 
this dense stand is not a good place for young trees; and, 
strange enough, the few smaller trees which do exist seem 
to be all maple and beech, while hardly any of them are 



7^^WW^r-Tl 




Fig. 2. Beech AVoods 
(After Rothrock) 

3 



4 FIEST BOOK OF FOEESTEY 

oak or hickory. Evidently the beech and maple can 
endure this unfavorable, dense shade better than oak, 
hickory, and elm. We may call the beech and the maple 
tolerant, since they tolerate or endure shade; while evi- 
dently the oak, hickory, chestnut, locust, and others are 
rather intolerant of shade and fail to start and thrive in 
places where the beech might still do well. 

Let us walk on a little way. The woods are more 
open, the trees more numerous and more mixed. There 
are quite a number of smaller trees, some mere poles or 
saplings. Here we see a tree with an uncommonly broad 
crown ; it appears as if it were monopolizing the ground 
in a most greedy fashion. Some people have termed 
such trees ivolves, though their greed would suggest quite 
another animal. But whatever the name, they are hardly 
good neighbors for these fine little saplings of oak and 
chestnut. 

There are a number of bushy young trees here, and 
even a few brambles ; dogwood and hazel find sufficient 
sunlight. In a garden we should hardly tolerate these 
bushes, but would rather grub tliem out as weeds ; and yet 
they are hardly more useful here in the woods, for surely 
they will never grow into trees, and in all cases may hin- 
der young trees from starting or choke off the seedlings 
of our useful trees. They eiYe forest 'weeds, and, while we 
could hardly afford to grub them out, yet we shall try to 
keep them down ; but how ? Well, Nature has already 



8 PIKST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

cover of leaves by dragging out the logs. Then a great 
many seeds would reach the ground, and if they germi- 
nated would have room and light to grow. 

Here is the stump of a tree apparently cut last winter. 
Let us examine it. It appears made up of numerous rings, 
one within the other. Let us count them, beginning with 
the pith which we see near the center. Eighty-five rings. 
So this tree was as high as the stump eighty-five years 
ago. Probably it was about three years old then; so that 
the tree was cut down when about eighty-eight years of 
age. Quite an interesting fact in itself. But let us look 
at these rings again. They are rather narrow near the 
pith. This would tell us that the tree did not fare so very 
well at first ; probably it was shaded too much by the 
older mother trees which were here at that time. From 
the twenty-fifth ring on, they are quite broad, — the tree 
grew more thriftily ; perhaps some of the older trees were 
blown down and thus the young tree had more light and 
room. But from the seventieth on, the growth was evi- 
dently slow ; the rings are narrow and seem to grow nar- 
rower each year. This reminds us of old age. Do the 
trees ever grow old and cease to be active groAvers ? If 
we keep our eyes open to these many records of the woods, 
they will tell us many a tale, and probably they will show 
us that trees, though they are generally quite long-lived, do, 
after all, grow old ; that trees, like people, pass through 
stages similar to our youth, manhood, and decline. 



THE WILDWOODS 



9 



Trees differ very much in this respect. A poplar tree 
is old at a hundred and fifty years ; a cypress lives to be 
five hundred years and more ; and some of the large red- 
woods, the '^ bigtrees," attain so great an age that the 
older members of this 
group began life long 
before Christ was born. 

Note that smooth- 
barked spot on yonder 
rough-barked oak. That 
is the place where a limb 
projected many years 
ago, when the tree was 
smaller. The limb died, 
decayed, broke off near 
the trunk, and the place 
healed over. Being much 
younger, the bark at that 
spot is smoother. Some- 
times these limbs do not break off early enough, or the 
stub is too large, like the many you see on these white 
oaks ; then the tree can never cover up the stub. The 
large knot hole, from which we saw the squirrel come 
out, is a similar case ; but there the stub decayed, and 
the decay proceeded along the limb into the trunk and, I 
fear, did much mischief ; for such a trunk does not make 
much sound timber. 




Fig. 5. Badly Healed Knot 

a, wood of the knot ; h and c, wood callns of 
the stem coverintj the wound ; shaded por- 
tion, decayed wood; hlack part, a cavity 
reniainina: 



10 



FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 



-f^v5 



Here is another smooth spot on a rough-barked tree. 
This is evidently not of the same kind as the one we have 
already noticed. Why, there are two, on opposite sides of 

the tree ; and note there 
are similar spots on yon- 
der elm ! Sighting along 
we see more of them on 
other trees, and always 
two on each tree. They 
are the blazes of survey- 
ors or of some one who 
wished to mark a line. 
Were we to cut through 
one of these blazes, as 
along the line AB, Fig. 
6, a, it would probably 
have the appearance 
shown in Fig. 8, h. 

Counting the rings we 
would find that the blaze 
was made when the 
twentieth ring had been 
formed, and since there 
are now thirty-two rings on this section, it means that the 
blazes were cut twelve years ago. Three successive stages 
representing the fresh blaze, the same seven years ago, 
and as it now appears are shown in Figs. 6 to 8. 




Older 
Bark 



-Bast 



// 20 

Fig. 6. The " Blaze " as it appeared 

Avheii first made 
«, iront view ; h, cross section on line AB 



THE WlLDWOODtS 



11 



Let us dig up a little soil and see what it is like. 
Beneath the cover of dry leaves we find leaves in all 
stages of decay ; below this, a dark soil, a leaf mold -, and 

below this, earth. If ,,,, 

• • If 

we rub a little of this 

earth in our hand, we 
see at once that it is 
not a clear sand, but 
that it is a loam which, 
if moistened, would be- 
come sticky. Would 
these fine hardwood 
trees have grown here 
if it were a clean sandy 
soil ? 

We have now learned 
several thing's on onr 
stroll ; but there is still 
something which seems 
to have escaped our 
notice, though we have 
climbed and stumbled 
over fallen timber at 
almost every step. It is the great waste of material 
in our uncared-for wildwoods. Here are some fine, large 
trunks of l)eech and maple half decayed ; there is an old 
elm log comjjletely changed to a brown, powdery mass 




Oute 



25 17 20 25 

Fig. 7. The " Blaze " partly healed over, 
as it appeared seven years ago 



12 



FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTEY 



and covered with pretty moss and ferns ; and yonder 
are two large trees of asli, one liollow, the other dead. 
But then, what else could we expect ? As long as man 

does not interfere 
with these woods 
and utilize the 
timber, the old 
trees die, tumble 
over, and remain 
until decay dis- 
integrates their 
bodies ; and rain 
and snow gradu- 
ally level these 
powdery masses 
and mingle them 
with the earth, 
where they serve 
to fertilize the 
ground for new 
generations of 
trees. Were it 
not for the fungi 
attending to this 
destructive work, the trunks and tops of a few generations 
of trees would cover the ground and prevent any new 
growth, and thus luring all forest hfe to a standstill. 




Outer 



20 ig 18 ij 32 JO ij 2S 20 

Fig. 8. The " Blaze " just covered, 
as it looks now 



^ 



> = 



o 

o 




13 



14 FIRST BOOK OF FOEESTRY 

If we stop to think a moment, we realize that as long 
as man does not Tise or fire consmne the timber, the 
amount of wood which decays each year in the forest 
must very nearly equal the yearly growth ; so that it is 
really wasteful if a j^iece of woods is left entirely to 
itself. 

We also note that these fungi are, after all, quite a useful 
and even a necessary part of our woods. Of course they 
are apt to do more than their share ; and this handsome 
birch would live longer and its trunk would be of much 
more value without the fungus whose shelf-like, fruiting 
body we see covering an old notch, cut hj some thought- 
less person merely to "try the ax." 

On our way home we see some other pieces of woods. 
Most of them are open ; they lack the border ; cattle graze 
in them, and there is a considerable growth of grass. We 
note a lack of young trees; and, on the whole, they give us 
the impression that the growth is slow, that little timber 
is produced, and that when the few remaining good old 
trees are used up, the woods will be little else than 
crippled brushwoods. 

What Light and Shade do for the Woods 

Here is apparently a windfall; all trees seem to have 
been blown over or Ijroken off. It is a rough-looking 
place. But see the large number of young trees ! Some 



THE WILDW00D8 



15 



started as sprouts from the stumps of smaller trees, but 
most of them appear to have started from seed. Here is 
a patch of very 



small trees, appar- 
ently not more than 
six years old, and 
two -year -old seed- 
lings are seen every- 
where. Among the 
young trees are 
tangles of wild 
blackberries, rasp- 
berries, and other 
shrubbery, and in a 
few places the grass 
is trying to cover 
the ground. Every- 
thing is struggling 
to hold its own or 
to gain possession 
of a little more soil 
and light. 

Here is a dense 
thicket of young 
trees three to eight 
feet high. Let us 
count. Why, there are eight live trees on one square 




Fig. 10. 



Even Spruce is made to " clean " itself 
(After W. F. Fox) 



16 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

yard ; and several smaller ones are dead among them, so 
that there were even more some years ago! But all 
of these can never hope to live and grow to any great 
size. Here is evidently a struggle ; most of the trees 
must die, and those left must be injured by this struggle; 
for the trees which will die during the next ten years are 
still using up food and water, much of which is needed by 
those which will survive, and the crowns of these latter 
are crowded and thus prevented from becoming as large 
as they should be. 

Here is an old thicket twenty to thirty feet high, and 
instead of as many as eight trees to a square yard, there 
are little more than this number per square rod. These 
saplings are slender poles, with little short crowns of live 
limbs, and the greater part of the pole is bare ; the few 
remaining lower limbs are all dead, most of them decayed 
and broken. What has become of the hmbs ? The dense 
shade has prevented them from producing leaves, and as 
soon as a limb ceases to produce leaves the tree ceases to 
feed it; it dies, dries, decays, and drops off. These sap- 
lings have cleaned themselves and are still continuing to 
do so. Now we understand why tlie large, long-shafted 
trees we saw on our first trip have the fine, clear trunks 
and make such good saw-logs. 

Without this cleaning our lumber would be far more 
knotty than it is. Shading and crowding, then, help as 
well as hurt in our forests. They help by killing out the 



THE WILD WOODS 17 

weaker trees, by removing the useless limbs, and by 
making our trees shoot up as -straight, long-shafted poles. 

The question now arises : Would spruce and other toler- 
ant trees clean as easily as these intolerant ones ? Hardly ; 
their very tolerance depends on the fact that their leaves 
can live and work in denser shade. But if they do not 
clean so well, would the boards cut from these trees be as 
clear or have as few knots as those of pine and chestnut ? 
Next time we are in the lumber yard we will find out if 
this be true. 

Since crowding and shading make the trees shoot 
straight up and prevent their branching or forking, it 
has often been claimed that shade makes trees grow faster 
in height. This may sometimes be true; frequently it is 
not. This growth in height is, of course, very important, 
and it is well that we should learn all we can about it. 

In going about these openings and thickets we notice 
that the shoots from the smaller stumps of chestnut, etc., 
grow very long even during the first year. Many of 
these sprouts are over four feet long, and if we compare 
them with the seedlings it is evident that the sprouts are 
by far the faster growers. Among the seedlings we find 
some that made ten to fifteen inches the first year, but 
the little seedlings of pine are scarcely three inches tall. 

If we examine the little trees three to eight feet high, 
we note that it is not always so easy to tell just what 
is the last season's growth in trees like oak, elm, etc., 



18 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

but in pine, spruce, balsam, red fir, etc., each year's growth 
is very conspicuous. In Fig. 11 the young white pine has 
a candleUke tip, about eleven inches long, then a whorl of 
limbs, below this another straight, branchless part, and 
so on. Now each piece between the several whorls of 
limbs is a year's growth, and we call the tip end, or last 
year's piece, the leader. 

In spruce a few smaller limbs exist on each leader, but 
in young trees this branching is rarely so great as to hide 
or disguise the leader. Thus, in these young conifers, we 
can tell at a glance how much grew last year, the year 
before, etc., and by looking over a number of these trees 
we soon make up our mind whether they have grown 
fast or slowly in height. 

Studying the trees in this way, we shall find that conifers 
generally grow very slowly the first five years, and most 
rapidly when al^out ten years old ; and that our eastern 
trees usually stop growing rapidly in height when they 
are about sixty or eighty years old. Hardwoods behave 
similarly, but usually their seedlings grow much faster. 

What Different Soils do for the Woods 

We have seen a good forest of broadleaf trees on a 
loamy or clay soil ; and if we should journey through the 
southern portion of the New England States, through 
New York and Pennsylvania, the Ohio valley, and the 





Fig. 11. "Leaders" on White Pine and liaLsaiu 

Same scale aud locality 

19 



20 FIEST BOOK OF FOEESTIIY 

Alleghenies, we would learn that such forests are common 
and cover a large portion of our best settled districts. 

A trip through southern New Jersey and through the 
sandy coast districts of the entire South would teach us 
that everywhere the sand lands are stocked with open 
forests of j)me. These forests are mostly jt>zrre stands ; 
they are not a mixture of hardwoods and pine, though 
occasionally a few scrubby hardwood trees exist. 

On the better sands of North Carolina and other states 
these pure stands of pine are often quite dense ; the trees 
are tall, and all open spots are readily reclothed with 
young pine ; but on the poor, white sands of jDortions of 
Florida Ave should find forests so open and parklike, the 
trees so far separated from each other, so little of young 
growth, of shrubbery or undergrowth, that the woods 
almost lose their forest character. 

Over long stretches of these woods the soil between the 
scattering trees is either entirely bare or covered with 
creeping saw palmetto. Strange enough, tlie pine, which 
here is commonly the longleaf pine, with needles ten or 
twelve inches long, cleans as ^^erfectly as if it were in 
the densest woods. Evidently it is very intolerant here, 
and possibly the poor soil helps the process of cleaning. 

Is the climate the cause of these open, parklike pine 
woods? Let us go to one of the many "hummocks," or 
low flats with a more fertile soil. Within a distance of 
twenty yards we step from a pure and open stand of pine 




Fk;. \'J. L()nt;leat' IMiie 
21 



22 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

into a dense, luxuriant forest of mixed growth in which 
ash, oak, basswood, cedar, and cypress are often mixed 
with scattered cabbage pahns and yuccas. Evidently it 
is the effect of soil. 

In North Wisconsin we might see almost the same 
results. The heavy clay soils are covered with a good 
growth of hardwoods, especially birch, elm, and maple, 
with a goodly sprinkling of conifers, pine, and hemlock ; 
but as soon as we enter any of the large, sandy districts a 
regular pinery, almost pure stands of pine, meets our eyes, 
and wherever the sand is unusually poor, stunted forests 
of jack pine replace the stately white and Norway pines. 

At the border of the forests, against the prairies, where 
drought and sand conspire to make forest growth more 
difficult, the sands are not covered with grasses but with 
scrub woods of jack pine and scrub oaks. Similar scrub- 
oak woods cover the Cross Timbers of Texas and j)ortions 
of other western states. 

From this sketch it appears that fertile loams and clays 
bear mixed forests composed largely of a variety of trees, 
mostly hardwoods ; while sandy soils are usually covered 
with monotonous pineries, composed of one or few kinds 
of trees. We also note that this distinction is very sharp; 
that in most sandy regions, whether north or south, the 
hardwoods are generally unable to replace the pine, and 
that wherever they attempt to do so the oak alone is 
partially successful. 



THE WILDWOODS 23 

Having seen what the soil does in determining the com- 
position of the woods, we might also inquire whether the 
forest can do anything to alter the soil. 

As we have learned in our former studies, the tree gets 
from the soil only water and certain useful salts, while 
the rest of the material of the tree comes from the air. 
The salts which it gets from the soil are its soil-food, and 
when these salts are lacking in a soil we call it poor and 
say that it needs fertilizing; i.e., it needs to have these 
salts replaced to make it fertile or enable it to sustain 
plants. The salts which the tree uses, reappear as ashes 
when we burn the leaves, twigs, or wood. 

Now when a beech tree takes up twenty pounds of such 
salts in a season, and perhaps fifteen pounds find their 
way into the leaves which are shed in the fall, these 
fifteen pounds may be taken up again by the tree, or its 
neighbor, as soon as the water has leached out and carried 
the salts down among the roots. In this ay ay the trees 
take and give all the time. But besides these mineral 
salts the soil also needs decayed plant matter; it needs 
mold or humus to make it really fertile. This is sup- 
plied by leaves and twigs which are shed by the forest 
trees, and these tend, therefore, to enrich the soil. It is 
due chiefly to this mold that ^^new-cleared" land is so 
fertile. In many districts people clear land, use it for 
some time, and then restock it with forest growth, which 
in due time reestablishes the former fertility. 



24 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Thus, we see that the soil determines the character of the 
forest, but that the forest also has the power to modify 
and improve the soil^, and so enables the soil to grow 
more trees and better trees. 

But this also teaches us that in all poor, sandy soils 
the permanent removal of the forest and, especially, the 
burning over of the sandy lands must needs injure the 
land by diminishing its fertility ; and that, therefore, it 
is harder to start a forest, and the forest will grow much 
less vigorously on such maltreated lands. 

What Moisture does fok the Woods 

On a trip along the Texas Pacific Railway from the 
eastern boundary of Texas westward we first' pass through 
long stretches of pinery, then many miles of mixed for- 
ests, which, on nearing the Trinity River, change into 
more and more open woods composed almost entirely of 
oak. From the Trinity westward these oak woods grow 
more and more scrubby; the finest lands are prairies, 
and the forest is restricted to the stretches of sandy lands 
known as the Cross Timbers. 

After crossing the Brazos River, west of Graham, the 
forests are reduced to patches in the river bottoms, and 
the broad fertile lands are either treeless prairie or mes- 
quite openings, where scattering bushes of the thorny 
mesquite help to relieve the monotony. 




Fig. 13. Too Dry for Forest 

Chaparral of scattering scrub or scrub woods in San Jacinto Reserve, California 

(After Gannett) 

2r, 



26 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

The sandy ridges following the Brazos, Wichita, and other 
rivers are either bare or scantily dotted with thickets or 
clumps of the shrublike shin oak, while scattering, bush- 
like trees of red cedar dot the bluffs of the rivers. 

Reaching the high and dry plateau of the Staked 
Plains we find that tree growth ceases; the mesquite no 
longer decorates the prairie, and the sand hills of these 
plains are desolate wastes. 

We have made a long journey from a humid country 
to an arid one, passing through many intermediate stages. 
Neither soil, altitude, nor the temperature factor of the 
climate has changed materially, and yet we have passed 
from a dense and stately forest of pine through oak and 
mesquite openings into bare prairie and sand waste. 

The great difference in the amount of moisture alone 
is responsible for these remarkable changes. Had we 
started from Duluth, Minn., and gone west or southwest, 
our experience would have been similar. First, long 
stretches of pineries, in which white and Norway pine 
often predominate ; then, rather suddenly, oak, or else 
poplar and oak openings ; and, within a few hours' ride 
by train, the open treeless prairies. 

This transition from the humid forests to the drier 
prairie regions is very similar from Texas clear to our 
northern boundary, and everywhere it is caused by the 
lack of rain and snow, which appears to be the principal, 
if not the only, cause of the fading out of the forest. 



THE WILDWOODS 



27 



At first it culls the forest and reduces the number of kinds 
of trees, — the elm, the ash, the basswood, etc., drop out, and 
the forest is finally reduced to open stands of scrubby oak. 
Where the moisture becomes scarcer still these scrub woods 
become more dwarfed, and soon the forest ceases altogether. 
Lack of moisture then reduces the number of species ; it 
stunts and, if extreme, it prevents forest growth altogether. 




Fig. 14. Too Much Water kills 
Timber killed by water backed up by state dam in Adirondacks. (After Fox) 

Thus, a lack of moisture acts like a poor, sandy soil, and 
wherever these two combine the effect is all the greater. 
Let us now see what too much moisture does. When 
the lumbermen in our northern forests dam up a stream 
to store water for driving purposes, they select some large 
flat, where a pond of considerable extent is produced by 
the dam. In such a place large numbers of trees, which 



28 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

SO far have been growing on dry land, are now made 
to stand in water ; and in almost all cases they die, even 
if the dam is closed for but a few months of the year. 
Evidently these forest trees do not endure immersion of 
their roots ; too much water kills them. 

In the valleys, or "bottoms," of the Santee and other 
rivers of the South, floods or freshets are produced by 
heavy rains in the mountains at the heads of these 
streams. Where we can walk dry-footed to-day we can 
boat on ten feet of water to-morrow. These freshets last 
from one to three weeks and, during this time, cover 
entirely all young trees not tall enough to project above 
the water. And yet the forests of these bottoms are 
among the most luxuriant ; there are many kinds of 
trees, and the trees grow to large size. 

It would seem, then, that in these fertile bottoms of the 
South many different kinds of trees and shrubs have 
learned to endure periodical, complete or partial immer- 
sion of several weeks duration. 

The hundreds of large and small swamps of our north- 
ern forests are generally stocked with forests of tamarack, 
cedar, and occasionally spruce. Generally these cedar and 
tamarack swamps are monotonous ; the trees are small, 
the stands dense. The cedar swamps of New Jersey, the 
numerous cypress swamps of the Carolinas, Florida, and 
the Gulf States resemble our northern swamps, except that 
we have here a different set of trees and trees of larger 



THE WILDWOODS 



29 



size. In some of the ''greenings '' or white cedar swamps 
the soil is a soft mud, and the trees gain a support or 
hold chiefly from the general network of roots. In the 
Dismal Swamp and the great Okefinokee a large portion 




Fig. 15. Used to Water (Cypress about Lake Norris, Florida) 

of the land is constantly under water, and these swamps 
have more the appearance of grassy lakes. 

Stretches of these swamps are entirely bare of trees 
and take on the regular lake character, while other por- 
tions appear like overflowed marsh lands, dotted with 
so-called '' houses," or small clusters of gnarly cypress 
festooned with long streamers of Spanish moss, whicli 
help to emphasize their weird, fantastic appearance. 



30 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

In swamps like the Chessahowiska of western Florida, 
where a warm climate and a supjDly of lime in the water- 
soaked earth assist the plants in withstanding the diffi- 
culties of too much water, the forest is often one of great 
variety, consisting of a mixture of red cedar, oak, bass- 
wood, yellow poplar, and ash, together with palm and 
yucca, and the trees display a considerable degree of thrift. 

These facts lead us to believe that wet soils, like dry 
soils, tend to reduce the number of kinds of trees, and that 
this effect is greater wherever a cold climate adds to the 
difficulty. It also indicates that in colder countries the 
monotonous woods of the swamj^ lands are simpler in 
their make-up, and stunted in their growth; but that the 
swamp forests of warmer districts do not generally share 
this stunted character, since, for instance, the cypress of 
the southern swamps is among the largest timber of the 
eastern half of our country. 

In the Puget Sound country, where it rains the greater 
part of the year, and where clouds, fog, and mist shut out 
the sun and prevent the trees from giving off much water 
from their leaves and twigs, we find some of the densest, 
stateliest forests of the world. They are composed of 
red fir, hemlock, cedar, and balsam ; the trees grow rapidly 
and reach unusual size. A well-drained, porous soil and 
a very moist, cool atmosphere are evidently conducive to 
the best tree growth. But even here it is rather remark- 
able that the conifers prevail. 



THE WILDWOODS 



ol 



On the whole, then, we see that most of our trees require 
a moderate amount of moisture in the soil and in the air, 




Fig. 1G. Cypress Swamp 

The short stumplike structures projecting out of the water are the 
"cypress knees," peculiar outgrowths from the roots of these 
trees, apparently dependent on the wet surroundings 



and that too much as well as too little water is fatal to 
most of them. It seems also that drought is best endured 



32 FIllST BOOK OF FOHESTHY 

by cedar, pine, and oak, while the swamp lands are occu- 
pied mostly by conifers, — cedar, tamarack, and sj^ruce in 
the North ; cedar and cypress in the South, — and that the 
swamp forests of cold countries are more monotonous and 
more stunted than those of warmer districts. 

Having seen of how much importance moisture is to 
the tree, it would be of interest to learn how far the tree 
can correct any deficiency, — to what extent it can drain 
the soil of surplus water or induce a dry soil to take up 
and hold more moisture. Experience and observation 
seem to indicate that it does both. 

What Heat and Cold do for the Woods 

Let us make a trip from the northern boundary of our 
country to the Gulf of Mexico and see how the forest 
differs in different places along our route, keeping in mind, 
however, that we must compare only such forests as are 
stocked on well-drained lands of similar soils. 

Along the south shore of Lake Superior, where long 
snowy winters and short frosty summers restrict farm- 
ing to the raising of grass, oats, and potatoes, the forest 
of the fertile loam and clay lands consists of a mixed 
stand of inferior hardwoods and conifers. The hard- 
woods are principally birch, maple, elm, and basswood ; 
the conifers, white pine and hemlock. Generally there 
are more of the hardwoods — they lyredo'tninate ; but 




Fk;. 17. I*;ilm(*tt(> 
(After Pinchot) 

33 



34 FIE8T BOOK OF FORESTKY 

occasionally the hemlock, more rarely the pine, forms the 
body of the forest. The hardwoods are few in kind 
and inferior in size and quality; the most valuable trees 
of the forest are the conifers, pine and hemlock. 

A piece of virgin forest in Indiana, where abundant 
crops of apples, grapes, and peaches indicate a milder 
climate, is nsually an oak Avood, heavily mixed with a 
great variety of other broad-leaved trees, but entirely 
without coniferous timber. Here we meet several kinds 
of oak, hickory, and ash, both black and white wal- 
nut, cherry, basswood, elm, yellow poplar, sycamore, and 
beech. Moreover, the trees are tall, with long, clear, 
heavy shafts, furnishing the choicest lumber. 

In eastern Tennessee or western North Carolina the 
warmer climate again changes onr forest picture. The 
yellow poplar and chestnut come to the foreground; 
the several oaks and hickories, a few magnolias, the 
locusts, catalpa, mull^erry, red gum, and others swell the 
list of common species, and in addition the conifers reap- 
pear ; the forest again has its sprinkling of pine. 

Although the number of different kinds of trees has 
thus been increased, the forest retains its general appear- 
ance ; it is a fine, stately forest of hardwoods, and many 
an acre of this forest could not l)e distinguished from 
similar acres of our Indiana woods. 

Going through one of the hue " hummocks " of Florida, 
the land of cotton, tlie orange, and pineapple, where snow 



THE WILDWOODS 35 

and ice are hardly known and where a fro.st is a general 
calamity, we are struck with the radical change in the 
appearance of the forest. It is still a forest of hard- 
woods, — there are live oak, red and white oaks, ash, and 
gum, — but among them is that peculiar tree of the torrid 
lands, the palm tree. And to have a few of these jDalms 
to each acre is enough to alter entirely the aspect of the 
forest. Usually this hummock land has some cypress 
and red cedar with a few scattering pine ; and everywhere 
the yucca and dwarf palms are conspicuous among the 
undergrowth. Our forest has changed, and changed 
radically ; it possesses an entirely new form, a new 
order of trees. 

Let us review our trip. In the icy Lake Superior 
region the forest is made of few kinds; the conifers 
are an important mixture and the hardwood trees are 
stunted. In mild Indiana it is composed of hardwoods 
alone ; the variety is great ; the trees are large. In the 
warm districts of the southern Alleghenies the variety 
is still greater; size and quality are equally fine, and 
conifers reappear; while in the hot climate of Florida 
the variety is still greater, and the forest takes on a 
subtropical aspect by adding the palm. 

If our comparison had been for the sand lands or tlie 
swamps, the difference would have been much less ; 
the pinery of Florida is as monotonous as that of 
Minnesota. 



36 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

We see that cold affects the forest just as do a poor 
soil and too much or too little water. It simplifies 
the composition of the forest and, in extreme cases, 
stunts its growth. But we also ojjserve tliat this 
effect is not very serious within the borders of our 
land ; that our most important hardwood trees extend 
far north and south ; and that the effect is less important 
for our sandy or poorer lands than for more fertile 
districts. 

Were we to inquire into the growtli and behavior of 
our forest trees along the same route of travel north and 
south, we should find the eff'ect even more important. 
We should learn that oak and maple in Tennessee sprout 
well ; in the Lake Superior country, with difficulty ; that 
most trees bear seed oftener and more abundantlv, and 
that young growth starts more easily, grows faster, and 
stands more shade in warm districts than in cold. Here 
and there, to be sure, there would be some exceptions to 
this rule, but they would be just enough to emphasize its 
general truth. 

Having learned the importance of warmth and sun- 
shine, we realize why, in our northern states, the forest 
on the south side of a ridge often diff'ers so radically from 
that on the north side. It is the warmth and light of the 
sunny south exposure which permits a greater variety of 
trees and banishes the frugal conifers to the colder, darker 
north side. 



THE WILDWOODS 37 

Had we extended our journey northward, far into the 
Dommion of Canada, we should have first passed through 
long stretches of pineries and woods of spruce, and finally 
landed in openings of birch, willow, and alder, which fade 
away gradually into the treeless wastes of the ever-frozen 
North. 

Woods and the Mountains 

We have all read and heard, and some of lis have had 
the opportunity to witness, that the climate grows colder 
as we ascend a mountain ; so that if the mountain is very 
high it may bear ice and snow all through summer, though 
it be located beneath the tropical sun of Mexico or Peru. 

From what we have learned concerning the influence 
of cold on the forest cover we should at once infer that 
the forest differs at different points from below upward 
and that it becomes more and more simple in its compo- 
sition ; more and more stunted toward the top of any high 
mountain range or peak ; and also that the forests of 
higher mountains, like those of the colder northern dis- 
tricts of our country, are composed most generally of 
coniferous trees. 

A few excursions will test and verify these conclusions. 

If we start on the Raquette River in the Adirondack 
Mountains of New York to go up to the top of Mount 
Seward, we are at first about fifteen hundred feet above 
sea level, and in the midst of a sandy old wliite pine 



38 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

" sla>sh/' surrounded by a rather inferior mixed growth of 
hardwoods and conifers. Yellow ]jirch and maple predom- 
inate, and spruce, balsam, cedar, and hemlock make up 
the coniferous portion. Climbing to an altitude of about 
twenty-four hundred feet, we find that yellow birch is 
largely replaced by white birch; the maple is a scrub; 
and the spruce, together with cedar, forms the body of the 
forest. As we ascend farther the forest becomes more 
and more a 23ure stand of conifers ; and, finally, on reach- 
ing the top, at an altitude of al)out forty-five hundred 
feet, we pass through thickets of dwarf balsam, from two 
to five feet in height, which, in many places, form such 
dense mats that it is possible to use the canopy of this 
pigmy forest for a seat. 

Ascending the Alleghenies of North Carolina, beautiful 
hardwood forests accompany us up to an altitude of about 
five thousand feet ; but the summits of all the peaks 
above fifty-five hundred feet are clad in somber forests of 
spruce, together with some scattering balsams. 

Fully as interesting and instructive is a trip u]) to the 
crest of the Cascade Mountains of Washington from the 
west side. Following up the valley of the Cowlitz River 
we pass through dense forests of the giant red fir, cedar, 
and hemlock. Reaching an altitude of about two thou- 
sand feet, we find the hemlock becomes more abundant, 
and the red fir recedes and is replaced by the mountain 
balsam. At an altitude of about thirty-five hundred feet 




39 



40 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

the red fir disappears, and the forest is one of balsam and 
hemlock with cedar. As we reach a height of five thou- 
sand feet the complexion of the forest changes entirely ; 
the dense forest of tall mountain balsam and hemlock 
suddenly gives way to open, more or less interrupted 
alpine park woods, composed of short, limby trees belong- 
ing to entirely different species, the alpine balsam and 
hemlock. 

Thus, we see that our inference was correct : the high 
mountain woods of our country are generally conifers, 
composed of few species, and are usually more or less 
stunted at higher altitudes. Similarly these woods change 
from below upwards, decreasing in complexity of compo- 
sition as well as in size and quality of the timber ; and 
their vigor, or rate of growth and capacity to maintain 
and renew themselves, also decreases. 



Part II 

FORE sill Y 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 

We have learned something of different woods, of their 
appearance and composition, and how they are modified 
by different climates, soils, and other conditions. We are 
now ready to see what man does with the forest. 

When the pioneer settler in the backwoods clears his 
farm he is anxious to destroy the forest as fast as possible, 
for every acre of " clear land " is a big step toward inde- 
pendence. In many places, especially of hxte years, he 
has been able to sell at least the better kinds of logs ; but 
in the most cases, now as formerly, the wood is wasted. 
The trees are cut into pieces small enough to handle and 
the neighbors are invited to a "log rolling"; they pile 
up the logs and branches into " log heaps," and when the 
weather is suitable these log heaps are set afire. Fire 
and plow prevent the return of the forest. 

This is not forestry; it is proper forest destruction, 
such as goes on in the settlement of every forest-covered 
country. The forest gives way to the field. 

41 



42 



FIEST BOOK OF FOEESTRY 



When the kiiiibermen cut the spruce in many parts of 
our eastern states, or the white pine in the hardwoods of 
Michigan or Wisconsin, they disturb the forest so httle 
that only the experienced eye notices the fact that the 




Fm. li) a. Co].)pice Woods 
(After Graves) 



land has been " logged over." On the sandier " pinery " 
lands, where the forest is nearly all pine, the case is 
quite different. Here the lumberman usually leaves a 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



43 



" slash." Most of the forest is gone ; a few young trees, 
some worthless cripples, and a small number of isolated 
stunted hardwoods still maintain the semblance of woods ; 
while the ground is densely strewn with the tops of the 




Fig. 19 h. Coppice Woods 
(After Graves) 



fallen pine. In one or two seasons these tops are dry ; 
they take fire from some cause or other, the slasli burns 
over, and instead of the former forest there is now a 
waste, which may remain in this unproductive condition 



44 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

for many years. Generally the lumberman does not con- 
cern himself in either case about the forest or slash he 
leaves behind; his business is to get out of the forest 
whatever he can utilize or sell ; he treats it as a ripe 
field; he harvests, — but he does not sow. He does not 
intentionally destroy any forest ; he merely harvests, but 
does not care for and protect it, and thus make an effort 
to keep up the forest and to grow a new crop of timber. 
For this reason, and to the extent that he fails in this, he 
is not a forester. 

On the other hand, the farmer who has a jiiece of wood- 
land, where, during the winter months he cuts his firewood 
and fencing and a few logs for the repair of buildings and 
implements, and during certain years, when prices are 
high, cuts some logs for the neighboring sawmill, but, at 
the same time, looks after the piece of woods, cleans it 
of dead timber and other rubbish, thus keeping out fire 
and insects, and otherwise makes an effort to keep the 
land covered with forest, — such a man practices /or es^r^. 
His forest may be small or large, his ways of doing may 
be simple and imperfect, so that his woods do not contain 
as many trees as they should ; the trees may not be the 
best kinds for the 23articular locality and soil ; they may 
not be as thrifty as they should and could be ; but never- 
theless here is a man who does not merely destroy the 
woods, nor content himself witli cutting down whatever 
he can sell, but one who cares for the woods as well as 



EAISmG OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 45 

uses them, one who sows as well as harvests. He is a for- 
ester, and his work in the woods is forestry. Since his 
forest is small, the work is simpler, and it will be a good 
opportunity to learn how he cares for the woods ; for 
trees start and grow in just the same way, whether in 
small or large forests. 

Coppice Woods 

Here is a piece of wildwoods in one of the picturesque 
valleys of northern New Jersey. The soil is loam, very 
rocky, and with too many large rocks on top of the ground 
to encourage its use for plowland. The woods, mostly 
chestnut and oak, appear rather scrubby, and we miss the 
large stately trees of the virgin forest ; there appear to be 
no old trees, and nearly all trees seem to be in clusters 
about old and much disfigured stumps. Evidently they 
started as sprouts — but here comes a native who can tell 
us more about this : 

" Yes, this is an old settled district, and the old woods 
were cut down more than a century ago. Since then 
these woods were cut over several times. Formerly, 
when firewood was much in demand for iron furnaces, 
the woods were cut over about every twenty years, but of 
late we leave the trees to grow larger, so that they make 
good railroad ties and telegraph poles, besides firewood, 
and this requires that they be at least thirty-five or forty 



46 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

years old. But still this does not make large trees, and 
thus our coppice woods look young and small compared 
with old virgin woods. 

" Yes, we use chestnut and oak mostly, but that is only 
because they were here and nobody cared to try any 
others. We cut usually in winter, the best time being 
about February or just before spring opens, because then 
the stumps make the best sprouts, and sprout immediately, 
so that a good growth takes place that very season. If 
we cut in the fall or early winter, many of the stumps 
suffer from the weather; and before they are ready to 
sprout are injured and, therefore, make fewer and weaker 
sprouts. 

'^ How much do we get per acre? That of course 
depends on the age and condition of the woods and the 
quality of the site [soil, exposure, etc.]. 

" Generally we count on a cord per acre and year, 
so that a thirty -year-old stand should furnish thirty 
cords 23er acre. From such a stand we should get about 
a hundred good telegraph poles, or else about three hun- 
dred railroad ties, besides about fifteen cords of firewood. 
For the poles we get four to five dollars, and for ties 
perhaps fifty cents each; but firewood brings only about 
three dollars per cord delivered." 

Let us now walk into the woods and see what we can 
learn. Everywhere we see that both oak and chestnut, 
but particularly the latter, are excellently well suited to 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



47 



this kind of treatment ; that their stumps furnish an 
abundance of sprouts ; that the sprouts grow fast, and 
always much faster than young trees 
started from the seed. Of seedling 
trees we see but few, and none at 
all in the denser parts of the woods. 

But, though the woods are fairly 
good, there are several things here 
which might be improved by a little 
more care. In the first place, we 
notice open spots ten or fifteen yards 
across, where grass and weeds cover 
the ground together with a few iso- 
lated trees of red cedar. Apparently 
the forest gave out and the stumps 
ceased to sprout. Perhaps they were 
too old or else had been burned, or 
possibly cattle kept the sprouts down 
by eating off the leaves and thus 
killed the stumps, for, as we have 
learned before, the stump can live 
only if it has leaves to prepare 
food for its cells. Such spots are 
unproductive ; they are neither good ^Dasture nor forest. 

In the woods we notice that some of the stumps have 
too many sprouts, that these crowd each other, some are 
dead and others are stunted by their neighbors. Evidently 




Fig. 20. , Stump and 
Sprouts 



48 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

cutting out tlie weaker would have helped the better trees, 
for tlie i^oor cripples use up water and soil-food and yet 
are unable to make trees. 

The stumps, we see, were not always cut with care. 
Many of them are too high ; part of the bark has dropped 
off, and the stump is partly dry. Others are flat on top, 
some even slant in (see Fig. 21), and many are rough, all 
holding the rain water, and with this the spores (seeds) of 
fungi, which will cause decay. 

Note also that many of these stumps are too old to make 
good sprouts ; they are much decayed, and the few young 
trees they produce have a poor support. They should be 
replaced ; there is need for new stumps. 

Let us think over what we have learned about coppice 
woods. Since we can use only trees which sprout well, 
we cannot raise pine, spruce, and other conifers in this 
way. As most trees in coppice woods should be cut before 
they are forty years old, preferably when twenty or thirty 
years old, these woods cannot furnish large trees, such as 
would be needed for saw-logs to make boards for houses 
and furniture. As to the work itself, we see that it is 
quite simple. If a man had sixty acres of coppice woods 
and wanted to cut some fuel and other timber every 
winter, he might cut two acres every year, and in this 
way cut the entire sixty-acre tract in thirty years. By 
that time the two acres first cut would be thirty years old 
and ready for the ax, and thus the cutting might go on 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



49 



indefinitely. In his work he should take care to cut at the 
right time of the year (late winter) ; to cut the stumps 
low and smooth, with the slant to the outside ; to leave 
some of the smaller useless trees for the protection of the 





Fig. 21. Tlie Wrong Way lo cut the Stumps 




Fk;. '22. The liiglit AVay to cut tlie Stumps 

ground and young shoots. He would naturally fill all 
bare spots with young trees, and would thin out the 
poorer sprouts when the stand is about ten years old, 
using the material thus cut for firewood. The old 



50 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTEY 

stumps, after they had furnished three crops of trees, 
would be replaced by young trees, which he would start 
by planting from a little nursery in his garden, or by sow- 
ing acorns and chestnuts on the newly cleared parts of 
this woodland. In this way he could cut at least two 
hundred dollars' worth of ties and poles each year, and 
have more firewood than he would need on his farm. 

Looking over the list of trees which have been used as 
coppice, we find that it is not large and that the following 
are the important ones : chestnut, oak, black locust, ash, 
elm, maple, beech, birch ; and where a light wood is used 
for paper pulp, etc., basswood, poplar, and willow may be 
used. This list would also indicate that a good coppice 
growth is possible in the greater portion of the eastern 
United States ; that it fares well only in temperate and 
warm climates, and on fairly good soil. 

In Europe, especially in France, the coppice system is 
very common, and rather preferred in the smaller forests 
of private owners and villagers. Generally the trees are 
cut when fifteen to twenty-five years old. The trees of 
oak coppice are cut in summer and the bark is peeled, 
dried, and sold to tanners, so that these woods are raised 
really as much for the bark as for the wood, and are 
called tan-hai'k coppice. 

When the cutting in coppice woods is so regulated 
that the trees are about thirty years old when cut, we call 
this period of thirty years the rotation^ and we say that 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 51 

the coppice is managed on a thirty-year rotation. Rota- 
tion in this sense simply means the age of the trees wlien 
the woods are cnt down, and does not mean, as in farming, 
a certain succession of different kinds of crops, such as wheat, 
corn, oats, and clover, to be repeated in the same order. 

The fact that in the northern pineries the burned-over 
slash lands are commonly covered by a growth of young 
jDoplar or aspen, and not by pine, has led some of the 
woodsmen of those regions to believe that there existed a 
natural rotation of forest crops resembling the rotation of 
farm crops ; that pine could not follow pine, but that 
poplar and pine always alternated with each other. As 
a matter of fact, the poplar covers these ^^ burns" because 
all through these pineries there is produced every year an 
abundance of poplar seed. Being extremely light, it is 
carried by the wind for miles and thus covers the burns. 
Moreover, the seeds of poplar and birch are the only tree 
seeds which are at once strewn al^undantly over the burns, 
and both, especially that of the poplar, do well on this 
freshly burned-over land. Thus it comes that the poplar 
and birch thickets are the first to reclothe these burns. 

We have learned that in European coppice woods the 
rotation is generally about fifteen to twenty-five years, 
and, therefore, shorter than that of the ordinary New 
Jersey coppice, which is usually thirty or forty years ; and 
that it is generally not advisable to make the rotation in 
coppice much longer than forty years, even for oak, which 



52 FIPvST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

endures longest ; while for poplar, birch, and willow it 
should not be over twenty-five years. 

Since large trees are not furnished hj the coppice woods, 
and since it is often desirable and profitable to raise larger 
trees for timber and lumber, many people have modified 
their coppice in this way. 

Suppose our farmer has sixty acres of coppice and cuts 
about two acres each year. Instead of cutting all trees 
he leaves standing on each acre from fifty to a hundred 
of the very best trees. These trees go on growing and 
are cut thirty years later, so that they live through two 
rotations of the coppice woods. By that time they are 
sixty years old and of considerable size. These we call 
standards and this kind of coppice woods a standard co^- 
'pice. Sometimes the standards are not all cut down at 
the end of the second rotation, but some are left for a 
third or even a fourth rotation, and thus get to be quite 
large. But it is usual to cut part of the standards each 
time the particular piece of woods is cut over. 

Since too much shade w^ould hinder the starting as well 
as the growth of the sprouts, the trees left over for stand- 
ards at any one time should not shade more than about 
one third to one fourth of the ground. Usually a thirty- 
year-old tree in good coppice woods has a crown covering 
about fifty to a hundred square feet, and it nearly doubles 
this every thirty years. Since an acre has 43,560 square 
feet, and about a fourth may be covered by the standards, 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 5 



o 



we might leave about a hundred thirty- jear-old trees of 
the laro^er size. 

In an oak and chestnut cop]3ice it is well to use largely 
these two kinds for standards, since in this way they will 
seed the ground and thus furnish new stumps. Generally 
it is better to use trees which have started from seed or 
have been planted to fill out gaps or fail places ; but good 
trees from young stumps answer very well. Among the 
broad-leaved kinds chestnut, oak, elm, ash, hickory, and 
walnut make good standards ; but beech and maple make 
too dense a shade. 

The Ordinary Timber Forest 

In southern Michigan we see many tracts of the ordi- 
nary broadleaf forest, such as formerly covered Indiana, 
Ohio, and a large portion of our eastern states. The 
climate of southern Michigan is temperate, even mild ; 
the grapevine and peach tree thrive ; the soil is largely 
drift material, — earth and stone believed to have been 
carried by ancient glaciers ; while fertile, it is sometimes 
very stony, being generally strewn with bowlders. The 
forest is composed of oaks, — both red oaks and white 
oaks, — elm, ash, hickory, basswood, beech, and other 
broad-leaved kinds (hardwoods) in irregular mixture, with 
the oaks usually predominant. Most of the trees seem 
to Ije large, old veterans. 



54 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Here is a piece of woods with a beautiful border of 
beech, low-crowned blue beech, mixed with elm, and 
maple, and a fringe of hazel, dogwood, and other shrubs. 
The whole border is so dense that it seems as if it might 
shut out all visitors, as well as the injurious drying winds. 
Let us enter. They are very stately old woods and remind 
us of the virgin forest we visited some time ago. But 
there are many things changed after all, and the hand of 
man is clearly visible. There is no dead and fallen tim- 
ber; it is all cleared away, evidently taken home for 
firewood. Nor do we notice here any old crippled trees, 
nor any of the greedy spreading ones which want a whole 
acre to themselves. No doubt they were here at one time, 
l)ut all have been cut out and used up. Right here we 
see a fine old mixed stand of mature timber, probably 
every tree over a hundred years old. They are still 
thrifty, but their shade is too dense for any young trees 
to start. Let us walk on. Why, here is a park ! Every- 
thing looks clean and neat, the stand is rather open, 
nearly everything except the maple has been cut out, and 
there are regular paths in all directions. Note the many 
auger holes in the trees ; this is a " sugar bush." The 
farmer, finding the maple predominant in this part of his 
woods, cleared out much of the elm, oak, and other kinds 
to give the maple more room. He also cleaned up more 
perfectly to make his work in sap-gathering time more 
convenient. 




55 



56 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

There are a good many small saplings of maple ; evi- 
dently this opening up of the dense woods stimulated 
reproduction ; the trees bore more seeds, and young trees 
found light and air to live. Some. of the young stuff he 
has cut out and has left only the best. They Avill l)e 
fine sugar trees when his son takes the farm. 

Here we come into a different stand. The trees are 
mostly poles (less than twelve inches in diameter), and 
must have started some thirty years ago. The large 
stumps of the old mother trees are rotten and covered 
with moss. Notice the many small stumps ; evidently 
there has been some thinning done. 

Here is a thicket of bushy young trees, three to ten 
feet high and standing rather crowded. The old stumps, 
just beginning to decay, seem about ten or twelve years 
old, and a few old trees are still left here. They need 
cutting out, for the young trees need the light. 

Here is a piece where the owner has cut timber during 
the last few years. He seems to have picked out (selected) 
the largest trees or those which stand too close to others 
and thereby hinder them in their growth. He has not, 
however, cleared out any large piece, but merely picked 
out a tree here and there, and thus kept the forest intact 
and the ground nearly all covered or sliaded, so that grass 
and weeds rarely get a chance to start. Going over the 
entire sixty-acre piece, we find that the man has cleared 
up and cut and thinned out everywhere ; that he cut 



KAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOPvEST 57 

considera1)le timl)er about ten or twelve years ago, but 
that he has smce then been more frugah Let us go over 
to where he is plowmg and ask him something about it. 

" Am glad to tell you all I can. I came here about 
thirtj^-five years ago ; the farm was in bad shape, and the 
first winter I cut a lot of logs for fencing, where you saw 
that young growth you speak of. Since then 1 have been 
cutting wood and timber for my own use every winter, 
and now and then a little to sell. Ten years ago I cut a 
large amount for the sawmill ; sleighing was good and 
prices rather high. For firewood I cut everything, and 
if it does not make four-foot wood, it is cut sixteen to 
twenty-four inches long and split to suit the people. In 
this way I have cleaned up pretty much all through the 
piece. For the rest I merely pick out where the timber 
stands too close. 

" Of course I can raise all kinds of timber, for the 
trees do not have to sprout and I can cut them at what- 
ever age I choose. So far I have been careless. Except 
in my sugar bush, where I \vant as pure a stand of maple 
as possible, I have let them come in as they would. 

" In the future I am going to do differently and cut out 
more of the kinds I wish to get rid of, thus favoring 
those kinds, like oak, which are of more value to me. 
I intend also to plant some conifers, most likely some 
white 23ine, as this does well hereabouts. How do I get 
a new growth started ? Well, so far I have done nothing 



68 FIllST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

but to let it start as it would. The large tree is cut down 
and removed ; this gives a small opening in which young 
growth starts, the seed, of course, coming from the trees 
left behind. In this way I open up new spots every year. 
How old do I let them grow ? No particular age ; I take 
them whenever it suits me ; but, on the whole, I like to 
let the sound, thrifty trees (dominant trees) reach a good 
size, say about eighteen inches in diameter or more, before 
I cut them down. Just how much wood is growing per 
acre on my land I could not tell you, nor do I know 
whether I am cutting more or less than is growing here. 
Of course if I cut more, I reduce my wood capital ; if I 
cut less, I increase it. So far I have probal^ly cut less 
tlian the growth." 

We have here, then, a timher forest ; one in which the 
trees usually start from seed and not as sprouts, where 
all kinds of trees may be raised which the climate and 
soil permit, and where the trees may be cut at any age. 
The procedure is quite simple. Every year the farmer 
goes over part of the woods and selects such trees as suit 
his purpose and such trees as need cutting out to better 
the woods. It is a process of selection, and the woods so 
managed is a selectioji forest . 

Since it furnishes many different kinds and sizes, and 
since it is so simple and natural a way of using and treat- 
ing the woods, this selection method is well suited to many 
forests. It is the best and often the only safe way for 



RAISING OPv KEEPING UP THE FOREST 59 

mountain woods, where forests are ditiicult to start if 
once cleared away ; it is the l)est way of treating the for- 
est border to keep it close and dense ; and it is an excel- 
lent way wherever the forest is small and the owner can 
go over it often, so that he knows all parts and can pick 
out, or select, with proper care and knowledge. 

In all cases he should see to it that the ground is cov- 
ered with the right kinds of trees; he should cut out 
those kinds which do not sell, or grow too slowly, or 
never grow large. What the right kinds are depends 
on the land. On the better kinds of soil in a temperate 
and warmer climate most of our broadleaf trees do well, 
and in many places a mixture of these with pine and 
spruce would be profitable. At present oak sells better 
than elm, ash better than maple, and any of these better 
than beech, while logs of white pine and spruce sell best 

of all. 

Since such kinds as the oak are quite intolerant or 
sensitive to shade, they must be mixed with others that 
can stand more shade. Of these the beech and maple 
are good. Often it pays to plant them under the older 
oaks when these no longer shade the ground and there 
is hght enough to encourage grass and weeds. 

One of the chief difficulties in this way of treating the 
forest lies in the danger of damaghig the young growth 
in felling old timber, and in cutting and barking young 
groAvth and trees in dragging out the larger logs. 



60 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Besides having the right kinds of trees, the forester 
should also see to it that there is no land idle, and that 
all trees are in a thrifty condition, growing in size and 
value. The amount of wood which grows each year per 
acre varies very much with the nature of the soil and 
with the kind, the number, and the age of tlie trees. 
For better lands about one cord per acre and year may 
be expected ; on j^oorer lands or from more neglected 
woods the amount may fall to only about one half cord. 

The selection forest is the oldest form of properly 
tended woods and has been in use in some European 
states for more than seven centuries. In our own coun- 
try it is practiced with njore or less skill by many hun- 
dreds of farmers ; and even some of our large forests are 
lumbered on the selection principle. Thus, in the pineries 
of North Carolina, the home of the '-tar kiln," farmers 
are selling the timber of their large woodlands to lumber- 
men, and many of these pieces are logged over for the 
third or fourth time in a century, each lumberman cut- 
ting only the larger trees and leaving the smaller for a 
future crop. 

The same is true of a uTunber of tracts of spruce 
lands in Maine, where some men introduced this method 
many years ago. Generally these large woods liave not 
received much care. In cutting^, the men often cleared 
large patches, which remained uncovered a long time. 
Commonly fire gets into these larger slashes, since it 



iiaisi:n^g or keeping up the forest 61 

is unprofitable to remove the tops, and thus much dam- 
age is done to the remaining trees. Furthermore, the 
dead and fallen timber and all useless and crippled trees 
are always left in the woods and hinder the good trees, 
serving as breeding places for fungi and insects, and 
increasing the danger of fire. 

Wliy do these lumbermen and holders of large forests 
treat their woods with less care than our farmer forester ? 
Let us examine into this a little more closely. When the 
farmer wants to cut some wood he can step out any day 
with his men, utilizing good weather and spare time, if it 
be but half a day ; he can cut as carefully as he wishes, 
since his crew is small, usually interested, instructed, and 
satisfied with whatever wages the work may bring. 

When the lumberman goes out to log in our nortliern 
states, for instance, he must start in summer, must build 
camps, cook house, men's quarters, stables, storehouse, 
and smithy ; a crew of fifty or more men must be hired, 
and supplies hauled for all his outfit. He must work 
systematically, so that everybody shall be kept busy, 
and in good weather or bad he must pay his men defi- 
nite wages. 

The farmer can draw home his logs, firewood, and 
fencing or other material whenever the weather and 
roads are good. His firewood he may pile near the 
house to season ; liis logs and his old seasoned wood he 
takes to mill or to town whenever hauling is good. His 



62 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

roads are all made, and, just as he cuts, so he hauls when 
it is convenient, utilizing weather and time to good advan- 
tage. If the winter is too open or otherwise unfavorable, 
he does no more than he is obliged to do. 

Once in the woods the lumberman must build roads, 
clear a landing, and make sure that he has a brook or 
river capable of floating his logs; otherwise he must 
build a railway to haul them out. In all cases this 
item of railway building is very great, amounting gen- 
erally to twenty per cent and more of all expenses. 
Then, when once the crew is felling and skidding or, 
as in the Adirondacks and many of the spruce woods, 
when once the logs are all skidded, he must haul them 
out whether there is too much or too little snow, whether 
the weather is good or bad. If the logs are to be driven 
down a brook or small stream, a broken dam or a dry 
season may cause lack of water and prevent the driving, 
and thus the logs will remain in the woods, involvilig 
great loss to the owner. 

Again, the farmer forester lives in a settled country, 
near mills and towns where he can sell his wood, and 
not an inconsiderable part of his market is in his own 
household and farm. His market is at home or near by, 
and transportation to market is practicable for nearly all 
kinds of his wood materials. 

In many parts of our country the lumberman's logs 
travel more than a hundred miles before they reach the 



RAISmG OPv KEEPING UP THE FOREST 63 

sawinilLs or any settlements where any of the material 
may be used ; and the greater part of his wood travels 
several hundred miles, some of it more than a thousand 
miles, before it reaches the man who is to use it. 

To ship cord wood out of the woods a hundred miles 
without a railway would, in most cases, cost much more 
than the wood could be sold for. For this reason the 
lumberman can often take only the best kinds of logs, 
and of these only the lighter, which may be floated, like 
pine in Wisconsin, and must leave hemlock and all hard- 
woods where they are, to say nothing of dead material, 
crippled and worthless trees, small poles from thinnings, 
and the like. 

It seems, then, that the proper care of a small forest in 
a settled country is quite easy, but that it is very diffi- 
cult to bestow the proper care upon a large forest in 
out-of-the-way districts, and that often only the simplest 
improvements are possible. Of course there must be 
intermediate cases, and so there are also different degrees 
of care which can be given to the woods. 

This also teaches us another useful lesson ; it is this : 
Since cord wood and other cheap material cannot profit- 
ably be shipped far, and since they cannot be used up to 
good advantage in unsettled districts, such forests should 
be made up chiefly of soft woods, pine, spruce, etc., which 
furnish a small amount of tops and a large amount of 
light, valuable log material, which pays for long-distance 



64 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

shipment. Of old maple, birch, oak, and other hardwoods, 
only about thirty per cent of all the wood is in valuable 
logs, and seventy per cent is cheap firewood, while in 
good pine or spruce over seventy, per cent is usuall}^ cut 
into valuable logs. 

In managing large pieces of selection forest it is JDCst 
to treat one part after another, and not to pick all over 
the tract. Thus, if a man has sixty acres of such forest, 
he would best cut over about five acres this year, five the 
next, and so on, and in this way get over the entire sixty 
acres every twelve years. This would give twelve years' 
rest to the five acres first cut, during which time there 
would be no cutting and dragging of logs and other mate- 
rial, and at the same time the cutting would recur often 
enough to keep the woods properly thinned and cleaned. 

Starting the Young Grow^th under Seed Trees 

In the selection forest old and young trees are mixed 
in such an irregular way that it is difficult to know how 
many trees there are a hundred years old, eighty years 
old, etc. This makes it difficult to regulate the business 
of the forest, to know how much is growing, to cut about 
the same amount of the same kinds and of similar sizes. 
Moreover, many a fine young tree thirty or forty years old 
is damaged by the felling of a large neighbor, and many 
good trees have to be taken out before their time because 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 65 

they were injured in logging. For this reason many 
foresters have changed this method as follows : 

Suppose a ten-acre stand of spruce or beech has reached 
the age at which the owner wishes to cut it (maturity, or 
age of rotation). Instead of cutting only a tree here 
and there, he thins out the entire stand, taking out about 
twenty per cent of the trees. After a few years more, 
when he expects a seed year (a matter which every for- 
ester watches closely) or when an abundance of seed has 
been produced during the summer, he cuts out more of the 
trees, leaving only about fifty to seventy per cent of the 
original stand, so that the crowns of these trees, which 
are so tolerant of a great amount of shade, would be sepa- 
rated by about two or three yards, thereby allowing con- 
siderable light to get to the ground. The marking out for 
this cutting (for every tree is marked by the forester) is 
done in the early fall when the foliage is still on the broad- 
leaved trees, and the cutting is done the following winter. 
In the spring the seedlings spring up and grow under the 
protection of the mother trees, which shield them from sun, 
wind, and frost. After three years, when the seedlings 
are well started and are in need of more light, about half 
of the old trees are cut out ; and a few years later, when 
the young plants are about one or two feet high, the 
remaining seed trees are removed, and any spots which 
have no young plants are stocked with plants from a 
nursery. In this way the forest is harvested, and a new 



66 FIRST BOOK OF FOEESTRY 

growth started under seed trees in the period of about 
ten or fifteen years, which makes this new crop of trees 
covering our ten-acre lot near enough of an age to be 
treated ahke and harvested together, producing a stand of 
uniform age. Some twenty or thirty years later the stand 
is thinned for the first time. 

Where the forest consists of a mixture of oak, ash, elm, 
maple, etc., the method is about the same, only the seed 
trees are fewer, representing only about half or less of the 
original stand. Moreover, it is well in these mixed stands 
to give the young plants more light and remove the last 
of the seed trees earlier, since the young plants need more 
light and care less for protection. 

In pine, only about twenty-five to thirty per cent of the 
trees need to be left for seed trees. Some men leave only 
about a dozen trees per acre. The seed trees should be 
removed when the young plants are two years old, since 
the young pine does not tolerate much shade. 

All kinds of trees can be reproduced in this way, but 
the success varies considerably with different kinds and in 
different localities. In Europe, where this method has 
been tried a long time, it is commonly used for beech and 
balsam, less often for spruce, seldom for pine and oak. 

In our own country, where land is cheap and labor dear, 
this method will give good results in all our large pineries, 
East and West, in the spruce forests of the eastern states 
and Canada, and in the majority of our hardwood forests. 




67 



68 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

In our nortliern states, where the oak is more sensitive 
to shade, it will need to be given a little advantage in order 
to kee23 elm, maple, etc., from crowding it. Other sensitive 
trees, like hickory, chestnut, and walnut, need watching 
and should be planted before the other kinds get started. 

The age at which the trees should be cut — the rotation — 
naturally varies for different places; it is longer for cold 
districts and slow-growing trees than for warm localities 
and rapid growers, and of course it depends also on the 
size of trees to be raised. In our temperate region and on 
better soils most of our hardwoods make good-sized timber 
in an eighty- or one-hundred-year rotation; on poorer 
lands — mountain districts such as the Adirondacks and 
Alleghenies — one hundred and fifty to two hundred years 
are needed. The white pine makes salable material at 
sixty years, good lumber at one hundred ; the red fir, white 
cedar, and redwoods of the Pacific will do the same, while 
spruce and balsam for pulp purposes may be managed on 
a still shorter rotation. 

In carrying out the method of starting the young growth 
under seed trees several things should be kept in mind. 
The pieces of forest which are taken in hand at any one 
time should not be too large. Thus, if a man had a forest 
of a thousand acres, worked on a hundred-year rotation, 
and wished to have it in such order that a fifth of all his 
woods were between eighty and a hundred years old, a 
fifth between sixty and eighty years, etc., then he might 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 69 

take two hundred acres in one piece and thin for seed 
trees, get a new crop started, and harvest everything on 
the two hundred acres ; then take up the next two hun- 
dred acres ; and in five twenty-year periods he w^ould 
have harvested and renewed the woods on the entire 
thousand acres. But this would not be good ; most likely 
his large open stand of seed trees would invite the winds ; 
the old trees would blow down, and the young trees 
suffer from drought. For this reason it would be much 
better to pick out five forty-acre or ten twenty-acre 
pieces, and treat each by itself. To pick these cuttings, 
or, as they have been called, '' felling areas," is not always 
a simple thing and requires good judgment as well as a 
knowledge of the woods and the lay of the land. 

Generally it is better in our country to work from east 
to west, to prevent the regular west and northwest winds 
from throwing the trees ; but in a hilly country tliis must 
be modified. In picking out the cuttings it is but natural 
that pieces where considerable young growth exists come 
first ; and also that a really thrifty stand of timber is left 
and a less thrifty one taken instead, since the latter is 
not growing as much timber as it should, and, therefore, 
is not earning so much rent. 

On all points where the wind is likely to do much dam- 
age, and also in the Ijorder of the woods, it is better to use 
the simple selection method by which the woods are left 
more intact, and are, therefore, more resistant. 



70 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Wherever it is possible, as in all small woods in settled 
districts, care should be taken not to leave fail places or 
empty spots, and if the young growth has not started 
well or evenly, planting from a nursery should help out. 

Where this method is to be introduced in our own wild- 
woods of mixed stands the work must be suited to the 
case. If, for instance, we have a sixty-acre piece of 
woods, there would most likely be some parts stocked 
with old trees, some other parts where old and young 
are mixed, and some pieces where the ground is covered 
largely with young trees. 

In this case it would be best to begin on the pieces of 
old timber. But since the crowns of our old trees are so 
very large, the directions about having the crowns three 
to five yards apart for seed trees could not easily be fol- 
lowed. The cutting of a large oak would often separate 
the neighbors by twelve yards or more. For this reason 
the large trees would be picked over, so that a selection 
system would be applied at the start. But instead of 
coming back at long intervals, the selection here would be 
repeated as often as the gaps are restocked with young 
growth. In this way one piece after another is renewed. 
If it were desirable to have the woods in a regular shape, 
and have it renewed in five twenty-year periods, of course 
one fifth, or twelve acres, would have to be cut over and 
renewed during twenty years. At first this would not be 
very strictly adhered to, and if the regular cutting does 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 71 

not furnish enough timber, or if any of the other parts of 
this piece of woods are in need of thinning or cleaning, 
the cutting would be extended to these parts. 

In large woods the forester would need a map wherein 
he could readily see just what condition every acre is in, so 
that he might study and plan the work at his house. In 
carrying out the plans the cuttings would be marked out 
in the woods as well as on the map. 

To make this map requires not only a survey in which 
boundary lines are run, as in ordinary surveying, but 
it needs an examination and an estimate, or better, a 
measuring of the trees, — all of them, if they are very 
valuable, or at least of sample pieces or stands ; and it 
also requires a careful noting of any young growth, and 
a description of the land, the slope, the soil, the drainage. 
Whether the ground is covered with grass, weeds, and 
shrubbery, or is bare, should also be indicated, for all 
this knowledge is helpful and even necessary to a proper 
planning of the work. 

Starting the Young Growth by Seeding from 

THE Side 

Along the Potomac, in Maryland, many old fields which 
were cleared and tilled in the time of George Washing- 
ton are covered to-day by dense stands of jack pine. In 
the same w^ay numerous old, abandoned fields in North 



72 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Carolina and Virginia are covered with pine. In this 
case the pine is a iine tree, called by the people of those 
districts shortleaf pine, and on account of its disposition 
to cover old fields it is also called old-field pine. It is 
cut in large quantities for saw-logs, and it is not an 
unusual sight to see men log this pine on land where the 
old corn rows are still visible. Evidently the seed from 
which these pine trees sprang came from the neighboring 
forest and was blown across the fields. Being so success- 
ful in many cases, this way of reproducing the forest has 
been used by the forester, and since the seed comes from the 
neighboring forests, the ground is seeded from the side and 
not under the seed trees, as in the method described before. 
In using this method it is customary to fell all trees on 
a strip fifty to seventy-five yards wide, or about twice as 
wide as the trees are high, and then to wait until the 
strip is fairly covered with young seedling growth ; then 
to cut another strip, widening the original strip by another 
seventy-five yards, and so on, until the entire piece is cut 
over. Of course any young growth is saved as much as 
possible in cutting the timber, and in valuable forests any 
places which are not covered within a reasonable time, 
say three to six years, are filled by planting. Since the 
seed is carried by the wind, it is well to extend the strips 
north and south, and begin on any particular piece along 
the east line, so that the prevailing westerly winds will 
carry the seed over the strip. 



RAISING OR KEEPINa UP THE FOREST 



73 



Where the forest is large there are as many strips 
worked at once as is necessary to cover the entire forest 
within the time of rotation. Thus, if we want the pine to 
be cut when eighty years old, and always allow each strip 




Fi<;. 25, Xatural Seeding from the Side 
Young pine encroaching on cleared land. (After Bureau of Forestry) 

five years' rest to seed and start a young growth, the 
forest might be divided into a number of parcels such that 
each parcel would be about sixteen strips wide, and this 
could be cut in eighty years' time. 



74 



FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY' 



Where the wood is still in the ordinary irregular mixture 
of old and young trees the larger trees on the western 
half of each parcel would grow old and produce too little 
wood before the time for cutting, and it is better to take 
out the oldest timber all over the parcel from time to time 
whenever convenient, independently of the regular cut- 
ting on the strips. If it is desirable to cut about the same 
amount of timber every year, as, for instance, where a pulp 
mill or sawmill is dependent on such regular supply, it is 
necessary with this, as with all methods, that the yearly cut 
should not be greater than the yearly growth. In woods 
where too much timber is young sapling stuff the cut must 
at first be kept proportionately below the normal amount. 
Just what this cut should be can only be found by making 
such a survey as was indicated in the previous chaj)ter. 

What this growth should be can be learned from the 
following table : 

FOR PINE 



NuMBEK OF Cords of "Wood (Logs and Cord Wood) which may be expected on 
One Acre of Land if properly covered 



When the Stand 
is Old 


On Site JVb. 1, or Good 
Pine Land 


On Site No. 3, or Inferior 
Pine Land 


Years 


Cords 


Cords 


40 

60 

80 

100 


40 

70 

95 

110 


25 
40 
55 
65 





RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 75 

Since much of this wood in our forests is wasted, the 
entire top being left in the woods, the slab and sawdust 
being usually burned as rubbish, it requires about three 
cords, or about two hundred and seventy cubic feet (solid), 
to make one thousand feet board measure. 

Thus, even on the poorer land, our stand of pine would 
cut about thirteen thousand feet board measure per acre 
when sixty years old. In most of our Virginia and North 
Carolina pineries it would do much better. Generally, 
however, even well-kept woods are not fully stocked, and 
if a fully stocked wood cuts a hundred cords, a forest in 
which only seven tenths of the ground is covered with 
trees would cut only seven tenths of that amount, or 
seventy cords. 

Dense woods of beech or spruce, or both in mixture, cut 
more than pine, and most of our mixed hardwoods grow- 
ing on better soil could be made to cut at least as much 
as the pine. 

Seeding from the side can, of course, be expected to 
succeed only with trees like tJie pine, spruce, red fir, cedar, 
birch, poplar, elm, and others the seed of which is light 
enough to be blown some distance. 

In Europe, where it has been tried, this method has not 
given general satisfaction ; the soil is exposed too long to 
sun and wind and thus loses of its fertility ; grass, weeds, 
and bramble cover the suimy eastern edge of the strip, 
and often the seeding is too imperfect for those countries 



76 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

where land is very valuable and must never be left idle. 
In our own country Nature indicates the use of this method 
for a large portion of the pineries of the South, and parts 
of the Rockies, and also in the red fir forests of the 
Pacific coast, where millions of acres of burns have been 
most beautifully restocked in this manner without any care 
on the part of man. The chief advantages of this method 
are that it does away with the tedious marking ; that, in 
felling, the men are not hampered by the fear of injuring 
young growth or standing timber ; and that the skidding 
and hauling is not interfered with by standing timber and 
young growth, and therefore can be done much cheaper. 

Starting the Young Growth by Artificial 
Planting or Sowin(^ 

On many of the old farms in Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, and other eastern states, portions of the land 
have become worn out by long tillage and use. They 
became pastures and, finally, almost useless brush lands. 
Some of these were planted or sowed to white pine, and 
land which sixty years ago was worth almost nothing to 
its owner, since it could earn no rental worth mention, is 
now covered with a forest of white pine worth one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars and more per acre. 

This way of dealing with the forest, to cut clean and 
then replant, is a common method in European countries 




Fig. 26. White-Pine Cone, Seed, and Seedling 

a, cone: b, seed with wing; c, d, e, plant of first season : /', plant two years old 

(After Division of Forestry) 
77 



78 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

and much used in the pineries of North Germany, and in the 
spruce forests of Saxony and other districts. In our own 
country this method has not yet been used systematically 
in the care of forests, but many thousands of acres of 
what was formerly forest lands and large areas of prairie 
land have been planted and converted into useful forests. 

The method is the simplest ; the logging can be done at 
any time, in the cheapest manner, and the reproduction or 
starting of a new growth is simple and satisfactory. 

With the natural seeding under seed trees or in clear 
strips one spot has thousands of seedlings on a few square 
rods, so that not one plant in a hundred can ^^ossibly hve ; 
and the next spot is left without any growth and must 
either be left idle or be replanted. All this is avoided by 
planting, for if done well it is usually successful, and the 
plants are sufficient in number and yet do not crowd each 
other. They therefore grow fast and symmetrically, with 
good healthy crowns, and the sticks are not so slender as 
if grown in dense thickets. 

Since this method requires a large number of plants, 
we shall have to learn something about tree seeds, where 
and how to get them, how to raise plants, and how to 
plant them. 

Nursery and Planting. — The seeds of most of our forest 
trees are still so high in price at seed stores that it is 
well to collect them whenever possible. Thus, the seed of 
our pines, spruces, and cedars costs from two dollars to 



RAISING OK KKKPING VV 'raE FOREST 79 

five dollars per pound : that of ash, maple, and birch 
from one dollar to two dollars, and even acorns cost 
twenty-five cents and more per pound. It pays, there- 
fore, to gather our own seed ; for, besides being cheaper, 
the "seeds we gather are fresh and, being matured in 
our own locality, are apt to furnish plants well suited to 

our climate. 

There are a few kinds like the elms, the willows, the 
poplars, and also the silver and red maples which ripen 
their seeds in spring and early summer ; Init most trees 
ripen their seed in the fall, the majority in September and 
October. Some kinds bear seed nearly every year ; most 
kinds bear every two or three years with a specially good 
seed vear at longer intervals. 

Large seeds, like those of oak, beech, chestnut, hickory, 
and walnut, can be picked up when they fall, and the 
same is true of the pods of locusts and catalpa. The seeds 
of basswood, maple, and ash may be beaten off the tree 
and caught on a sheet spread out on the ground ; or they 
can be gathered by cutting the best bearing twigs witli 
shears, either from the ground or from a ladder. 

This way of cutting the twigs or picking off seeds is 
the best also for elm and for trees where the seeds are 
in cones or balls, as with the yellow poplar (tulip poplar), 
sweet gum, sycamore, birches, and conifers. The seed of 
willows and poplars rarely needs to be gathered, as these 
trees are easily grown from cuttings. 



80 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

The seeds which ripen in spring and early summer, 
as those of elm, poplar, and willow, must be sown as 
soon as ripe, for they do not retain their vitality very 
long. 

The small cones of birch, yellow or tulip poplar, and 
balsams fall apart easily when dry, and then the seeds 
and scales (chaff) may be separated ; but the cones of 
pine, spruce, larch or tamarack, hemlock, and white 
cedars remain intact and have to be dried, preferably 
in a warm room, until the scales open and let the seeds 
drop out. 

After we have gathered the few kinds of seeds from 
which we wish to raise plants we have to take care of 
them, for seeds are not only eagerly eaten by mice, but 
they spoil by drying out or by heating and molding. 

Different seeds jjehave very differently in this respect. 
The seeds of pine, spruce, and other conifers may be kept 
in bags hung up in a dry, cool shed, but the majority of 
seeds of broadleaf kinds, especially all the fleshier ones, 
are best kept in sand. 

For this purpose the bottom of an ordinary box is cov- 
ered with a two-inch layer of sand (not dry, but moist 
like ordinary earth); then a layer of seeds one half to 
one inch thick is spread out on the sand ; this is covered 
with a two-inch layer of sand, then a layer of seed, and 
so forth. When filled the box is nailed up and may then 
be placed in a cool cellar or else put into a pit dug in the 



KAISING OR KEEPING UP THE EOKEST 



81 



garden, deep enough to receive the entire box. After the 
box is set in, earth is shoveled over it to cover it at least 
six inches deep and make a small mound to shed the 
water. This should be still further guarded by a covering 
of boards or slabs. The seed thus kept should be sowed 
immediately after it is taken out in the spring. 

To save the trouble of keeping the seed over till spring, 
it is often better, where mice ai'e not too numerous, to 




Fm. 27. Drill Board 
a, board ; b, cleat to make the drill : c, upright hoard with handle, d 

sow the seeds in the fall. This may well l)e done with 
all fleshy seeds, like those of oak, beech, chestnut, hickory, 
walnut, maple, ash, etc., l)iit seeds of conifers and most 
seeds which can stand only a very thin covci' of eartli 
should be kept till spring. 



82 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Seed Bed. — To raise plants of broad-leaved trees any good 
garden beds will do ; for pine and other conifers most gar- 
dens have too mnch stable manure^ and a small spot in the 
woods is often better. Broad-leaved kinds need a good 
loam, bnt can stand qnite heavy clay ; but the conifers 
fare better on a sandy soil. All seed beds should be 
plowed or spaded deeply to loosen the soil for the roots, 
and the land should be well fertihzed with phosphate 
of lune, well rotted compost, or forest mold. All this 
is easily done where only a few thousand plants are to be 
raised ; for a bed four by twelve feet is capable of producing 
a thousand or more of such plants as pine and spruce. 

For this reason some prefer raising tree seedlings in 
boxes in the house, or under glass, and in many cases 
this way is the cheapest and most convenient. Of course 
where a large forest has to be supphed every year with 
plants it is necessary to have a large nursery. 

Solving. — In sowing large seeds it is generally better 
to plant in drills, which may be made with a narrow gar- 
den hoe; but for small seeds the drills should be pressed 
into the ground with a drill board, shown in Fig. 27, where 
the two cleats make the drills. In boxes and wdiere space 
is valuable broadcast sowing may be employed. With 
most of the l)road-leaved kinds the drills should not be 
closer than twelve inches ; for conifers six inches suffices. 

As soon as they are in tlie ground, conifer seeds should 
be covered about one half inch ; maple, ash, etc., about 




83 



84 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

one iiicli; oak, hickory, walnut, and also black locust, 
about two inches. An old rule says that tree seeds 
should have a cover tliree times as deep as the seed is 
thick. After covering, it is well to roll or press the sur- 
face of the ground with a board or roller. To prevent the 
drying out of the ground it is best to give the seed bed 
a cover of brush or else cover it with a screen. (See 
Fig. 28.) This screen is placed on the ground until the 
seedlings push out of the soil ; then it should be raised, 
at first four inches, later on twelve inches for conifers, 
and for broad-leaved trees two feet, so as not to hinder 
the plants in their growth. This screen protects the 
plants against sun and wind, and thus keeps them from 
drying out. 

Some broad-leaved trees and also the pine can some- 
times be raised without the screen, but all kinds do better 
if thus protected ; while some kinds, like spruce and bal- 
sam, do not get on well without it, and should have it all 
of the first and at least part of the second year. 

Many seeds will germinate within a few weeks after 
sowing ; some few, like ash, basswood, larch, and even 
white pine, often ^' lie over," ^.e., a j)art of the seed does 
not come up until the second year. To prevent this the 
seed should be soaked for several days before sowing. 

The majority of fresh or properly kept tree seeds are 
good, and from sixty to eighty per cent of all seeds may 
be expected to germinate ; Imt of those of balsams, birch, 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 85 

elm, asb, and maple generally less than half are good, 
while of yellow poplar seed ninety per cent is commonly 
worthless. 

The number of plants which are obtained from a pound 
of seed depends, of course, on the number of seeds in a 
pound, on the per cent of good seeds, and also on the 
vigor of the seedlings. 

The number of seeds in a pound varies within wide 
limits. In the light and winged seed of birch there are 
over four hundred thousand grains to the pound ; in Nor- 
way, shortleaf, and Scotch pine, red fir, and spruce, about 
seventy thousand ; in white pine, about thirty thousand ; 
in white ash, about ten thousand ; in basswood and sugar 
maple, about seven thousand, while in walnuts there are 
only about thirty nuts per jDound. In sowing, the seeds 
should be well spaced so that about three to five grains 
of coniferous seeds come to one linear inch of the drill. 
Acorns and nuts are dropped about two to three inches 
apart, and in the case of most of the smaller seeds of 
broad-leaved trees one to three seeds are sown to each 
inch of drill. 

Seedlings. — If properly cared for, i.e.^ hoed, weeded, 
and, if need be, watered, and carefully sheltered, the 
little seedlings should take a firm hold of the ground 
and become fully established during the first summer. 
Pine, spruce, and other conifers generally remain small 
the first season, usually growing to a height of only one 



86 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



and a half to three inches ; those of most of the broad- 
leaved kinds in the temperate zone of our country grow 
usually to a height of six to twelve inches the first year, 




Fig. '29. Seedlings. (All two years old and about three feet high) 
a, maple; b, box elder; c, aspen 

and some of them, like catalpa, black locust, and the 
walnuts, grow commonly to a height of twelve to twenty- 
four inches. 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



87 



During cloudy weather and in the fall the screens should 
be removed or used sparingly, to give the seedlings suffi- 
cient light. During the winter the tiny little plantlets 
of conifers may be protected with a cover of branches or 
leaves, but generally they do well enough without cover. 




Fig. oO. Plaiitiuu' in Old Burned-over Shish Land in Adirondacks 



For the taller, Ijroad-leaved seedlings a '' hilling iij) " is 
usually desirable, and where tender kinds, such as hickory 
and chestnut, are to be raised in colder localities a cover 
of brush and straw is desirable. 

Planting. — The plants of such ti'ees as the elm, catalpa. 
and black locust, and most of our hardwoods may Avell 



88 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

be set out in the woods when one year old ; and even 
beech and pine do well if set out at this age. Pine plants 
do better if set out when two years old, and spruce and 
balsam in their third year. When it is desirable to have 
stout and hardy plants, as in planting on poor soil or in 
places exposed to wind and sun, it is best to take the 
plants from the seed bed when one, or even better, when 
two, years old and set them in another bed in the garden, 
giving them more space. This transplanting makes stout, 
bushy, long-rooted plants, and is much used in raising 
spruce, balsam, and oak. Generally it costs as much to 
transplant a thousand plants as it costs to raise them in 
the seed bed to the second year. 

Where the trees are set out on forest soil with stumps 
and small brush and rotten logs and other rubbish in the 
way, they are placed wherever there is good space, but 
preferabl}^ not closer than live feet apart. The planting 
is best done by two men, one digging the holes with a 
mattock, the other setting out the trees. 

The plant should not be set deeper than it stood in the 
seed l)ed ; the soil must be filled in neatly and firmly 
about the roots, so that the plant cannot readily be lifted 
out by the top after planting. In this w^ay two men can 
plant eight to twelve hundred small plants per day. By 
using the spadelike iron shown in Fig. ol,B, where the hole 
is made by one thrust, the plant held in l)y a boy, and 
the hole closed by a second thrust, the two men can plant 



KAISING Oil KEEPING VV THE FOHEST 



89 



as many as iifteen to twenty hundred per day. This 
method does very well in sandy soil and with two- to 
three-year-old conifers. 

On prairies, where the land may first be plowed and 
harrowed, the trees may be set in regular rows, and the 




^ 




Ficr. :n. Plaiitiiiu- Tools 



A, ax-mattock, one of the best tools used in the woods; B, planting dibble, 
used in loose soil and for s)uall plants 

larger plants of broad-leaved kinds may well l)e set out 
in furrows. 

In all kinds of planting, but especially with pine, 
spruce, and other conifers, the greatest difficulty is found 
usually in trying to keep the plants in a fresh, healthy 
condition. If they are bought at a nursery, a thousand 



90 FIRST BOOK OF FOREST RV 

or more miles away, they are apt to heat and mold if 
|)acked too closely, and dry out if packed too loosely. 
The best method is probably to ship them in large bas- 
kets, packed in bundles and with the roots wrapped with 
damp moss. Seedlings of pine, spruce, and other coni- 
fers should never be allow^ed to dry at their roots ; in 
fact, a few minutes of such drying in bright sunlight is 
often enough to kill them. 

During planting, the bunch of seedlings carried along 
should not be held in the hand but kept in a pail with 
wet moss and a little water, and in warm, sunny weather 
the pail should have a cover of wet sacking. The broad- 
leaved kinds are much more hardy, but in all cases success 
in planting depends on keeping the plants fresh. Planting 
in spring is universally preferred, though fall planting is 
often equally good. 

Sowing in the Forest. — Where seed is cheap and where 
the soil is in good condition, as on newly clean-cut forest 
land, many people prefer to sow the seed directly on the 
land and thus save all the trouble of raising plants. 
With the seeds of oak, chestnut, hickory, walnut, beech, 
locust, maple, ash, and basswood this is a very good way ; 
and even for pine and spruce excellent results are obtained 
by this method. In sowing, the man hoes small spots 
about twenty-four inclies square, scraping the ground a 
little toward the center to make this part the highest ; 
he then drops three to five seeds in about the middle and 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



91 



covers them lightly, presshig the ground afterward with 
the hoe. In this way he goes back and forth, sowing 
wherever there is room, bnt so that the spots are at least 




Fig. 32. Pine Grove from Planted Seed 
(After Graves) 

five feet apart. Where mice are numerous, and where 
insects, sun, and wind, together with a poor soil, combine 
to injure the seedlings, this method is not reliable. 



92 riEST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

Occasionally wild seedlings may be found in great 
abundance in the woods. When these plants are still 
small, i.e., from one to two years old, they usually thrive 
if transplanted ; but older j^lants, especially if taken from 
rather dark woods, are generally too spindling and rarely 
do well. 

Po|)lars and willows are best started by cuttings. These 
are pieces of young shoots, one to two years old, gathered 
in March and cut into twelve-inch pieces. These pieces 
are bundled and then buried until spring o]3ens, when 
they are set out either in the garden, if we wish plants, 
or else at once in the woods, where they are to remain 
permanently. In the garden they may be planted in a 
trench made with spade or plow ; and in the woods they 
are stuck into a slanting hole made with the spade, about 
two inches of the cutting being left to project from the hole. 
In both cases the earth is packed firmly by tamping. 

In our prairie regions, of course, all trees must be 
planted ; the forest is yet to be made. Here planting, 
chiefly of broad-leaved kinds, has proved most successful. 
Later on, when the woods exist, conifers may be added. 

In our forest lands such trees as poplar, willow, birch, 
elm, and even maple, basswood, and ash, need introduc- 
tion here and there ; but in our hardwood forests they 
will usually be numerous enough without special care. 

Hickory, walnut, and even oak, chestnut, and beech 
may well Ije started Ijy planting the seed ; thus, generally, 



RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



93 



the main object of forest nurseries is to produce conifers 
and only secondarily to start such kinds as do not exist 
in a given locality, or common broad-leaved trees for poor 
soils and difficult waste lands. 

The method of cutting clean and replanting, though 
used successfully for many years and in many places, and 
used in forests 
which have paid 
the highest yearly 
rental of any in the 
world, has, never- 
theless, been criti- 
cised by many for- 
esters. Usually it is 
claimed that it costs 
too much ; that it 
leaves the ground 
bare for several 
years and thus 
exposes it to sun 

and wind* and Pig. 33. An Oak Grove from Artificial Seeding 
finally, that it (After Graves) 

induces the people to grow forests composed of one kind 
of trees, either spruce alone or pine alone, and thus 
increases the danger from insects and disease ; for if a 
spruce forest is attacked ])j a spruce-loving caterpillar, 
the insect finds so much food tliat its lumibers increase 




94 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

all the more rapidly, and a whole forest may be destroyed. 
Experience in Saxony, involving thousands of acres annu- 
ally, shows that planting is not costly, for it costs there 
only about two per cent of the total or gross income of 
the forest. But even if it should not be well to clear oft" 
large tracts of forest and then replant, it will be safe to 
do so on better lands in a temperate climate and for small 
areas ; and it is probable, also, that it will prove satisfac- 
tory for larger areas situated near good markets, like some 
of our spruce forests which supply pulp mills in their midst. 

Aside from this it will always be found not only help- 
ful, but even necessary, to assist Nature in restocking the 
forest ; for, however carefully dealt with, mistakes produce 
fail places, and tlierefore every one who cares for a forest 
should know how to plant and sow and should at all 
times be ready to do so. 

It would be misleading, however, to infer that the 
planting of forests is always profitable in the ordinary 
sense of the word. Like the pioneer's clearing of forests 
for plowland, and like the farmer's labor of raising the 
bread and meat of the nation, so the planting and raising 
of forests, though one of the most necessary of human 
occupations, rarely produces those large returns which a 
speculative age expects from a " paying " investment. 
But like the conversion of the wilderness into productive 
farms and pleasant homes, so the planting of the forest 
is sure to reward in the end. 



RAISING or. KEEPING UP THE F0PE8T 05 

Review of Methods of starting New Growth 

IN Forests 

We have now looked over the various ways which dif- 
ierent ])eople employ to keep up ditierent kinds of forests. 
Of course every one of these principal ways may be, and 
actually is, modified or changed by different men to suit 
particular cases. In this way there are a good many kinds 
of coppice, using different trees and different rotations ; 
one man leaves only a few trees in his standard coppice, 
another holds over so many trees that the standard coppice 
approaches the timber forest. In the same way one man 
picks over his whole tract of selection forest every year ; 
another works one fourth of it until this fourth is all cut 
over and stocked with new growth, and then goes to the 
next fourth, etc. In this way his selection forest becomes 
more regular and approaches the common method of 
starting the young growth under seed trees. 

We have learned, too, that whatever the system of 
management may be, the starting of a new growth — 
the reproduction, the keeping up of the forest — is the 
main feature in the mind of the forester, and his methods 
are described, named, and compared with this chief object 
in view. 

The table on the following page will help us to fix in 
our memory the principal methods of reproduction, each 
giving rise to a particular form of forest. 



96 



FIRST BOOK OF FOHESTRY 



THE SIX PRINCIPAL METHODS OF REPRODUCTION 



Method 



1. Coppice 



2. Standard 
Coppice 



3. Selection 



Under 
Seed Trees 



Natural 
Seeding 
from the 
Side 



a. 



Artificial 
SeediJif/ or 
Planting 



How THE Cutting 

IS DONE 



All trees are out off 



Part of the trees are 
held over to grow 
to larger size, and 
are cut at the end 
of the second or 
third rotation 

The largest and old- 
est trees and also 
the worthless and 
crowding younger 
trees are picked out 



The piece of land is 
cut over two to four 
times within 10-20 
years ; the first cut 
merely thins out, 
the second leaves 
only the seed trees, 
the third cut gives 
light to the young 
growth, the fourth 
cut removes the last 
of the old trees 

Strips 50-75 yards 
wide are cut clean 
and left until 
seeded, when a new 
strip is cleared 



All timber is cut 



The Trees 
start ekom 



Sprouts 



Main crop from 
sprouts, the 
standards i)re- 
ferably from 
seed or plants 

Mostly from 
seed 



Seed 



Seed carried by 
the wind from 
neighboring- 
forest 



Seed, or nursery 
plants 



Where the Method 
mav be used 



Only for broad-leaved trees, 
preferably oak and chest- 
nut, on fairly good forest 
soil and in mild climate 

Same as coppice. For 
standards use oak, chest- 
nut, ash, also pine 



For all kinds of forests, on 
all kinds of land, and for 
cold and warm climates. 
The best way for difficult 
mountain forests and 
wherever it is hard to 
keep forest growth 

All kinds of forests, less 
good in cold climate, on 
l>oor soil, and in exposed 
(storm-beaten) places 



Only with trees which have 
light seed, — pine, spruce, 
red fir, white cedars, elm, 
birch, poplar, etc., — and 
only in warmer localities 
and where seed falls 
abundantly and regu- 
larly, and where the soil 
is not covered too badly 
with grass and brush 

All kinds of forests, good 
and poor soil, cold and 
warm climate. Simplifies 
the business, makes cheap 
logging, and prevents 
useless crowding of young 
plants 



CARE AND PEOTECTION OF THE FOEEST 97 

CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 

A piece of wildwoods, as we have seen, may do very 
well without the care of man ; young growth will start up 
where old trees die and fall ; in the dense thickets the 
more vigorous choke out the weaker, the taller shade 
down the shorter ; the tolerant crowd out the intolerant. 
A gap made by the storm is filled in sooner or later by 
trees starting as sprouts, or by trees whose seeds have 
been carried there by the wind. Large openings made by 
fire are restocked, here slower, there faster, according to 
the circumstances ; and large areas of forest destroyed by 
some caterpillar are gradually reforested by those kinds 
which this particular insect does not feed upon. This 
would seem to tell us that forests need no care. But this 
is true only if we are satisfied with the small amount of 
good growth which most wildwoods make. Where man 
wishes the forest to produce a larger amount of wood and 
wood of particular kinds and sizes, more or less care is 
necessary. In the stately forests of red fir and cedar of 
the Puget Sound country, where a good forest soil, mild 
and humid climate, and excellent kinds of forest trees 
combine to make a forester's paradise, a little care might 
suffice ; but even in these districts the old trees hinder the 
young, and the young trees crowd each other, and thus 
the trees themselves call for help, for interference, for 
improvement. 



98 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Besides this the farmer with his thirty acres of woods 
is not satisfied with the philosophic view that, in the wild 
state, forests gradually right themselves ; he must know 
what he had better do to protect his woods against fire 
and insects, and how to treat them to make them more 
resistant against wind, snow, and frost. 

Thinning and Cleaning 

Going over a newly planted piece of young pine where 
the little plants are five feet apart, we see that each of 
these has more than twenty times as much space as it 
needs. If we come back five years later, we find the little 
bushy-topped trees beginning to touch each other. Ten 
years later we find here a thicket of saplings, twenty feet 
and more in height, the lower limbs mostly dead, and the 
short crowns firmly locked. The struggle has begun, and 
if no trees are taken out, the stronger choke the weaker ; 
but, and this is the serious part, the weaker also hurt the 
stronger by using u]) some of the much-needed water and 
mineral food from the soil and hindering the growth of 
both limb and root. 

If we return again ten years later, we find a large 
number of trees dead. Others are dying, and the living 
trees have grown taller and their stems have fewer dead 
limbs. The trees have " cleaned " more perfectly, but 
they have grown but little in thickness ; th^y are a 



CARE AN]) PROTKCTIOX OK THE FOREST 



09 



spindling lot of thin poles with a little crown of green 
limbs altogether too small for thrifty growth. A glance 
shows that the stand is suffering and that help is needed. 







1 4 2 5 3 

Which should come outV 
(After Kraft) 

Here then would be our first thinning, and the question 
arises, What shall we take out ? 

A study of Fig. 34 will help us. Here the strongest trees 
are marked No. 1 ; they represent tliose exceptionally 
LofC. 



100 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

vigorous ones which project above the general level of the 
canopy of the woods. The three next best trees are marked 
as No. 2 ; they represent the tlirifty trees whose crowns 
make up the body of the canopy. Let us call the trees 
of class No. 1 and No. 2 the dominant trees. The trees 
No. 3 are weaker ; they form a small part of the canopy 
and give little promise of ever making good trees. Those 
of No. 4 are being crowded out, and those like No. 5 are 
dying or dead. 

If our piece of forest were twenty-five years old and 
the trees about thirty feet in height and we might thin 
out every ten years, we should take out only trees of the 
fourth and fifth classes ; and also such trees of the third 
class, and even of larger size, as interfered evidently with 
some better trees. This would be repeated in ten, in 
twenty, etc., years, until the timber should be cut. 

In places where the pole wood cut during the first and 
second thinning could not be sold, this process would 
cost some money; for the material cut in the thinnings 
should really be taken out to prevent the development 
of too many injurious beetles. For this reason a more 
thorougli thinning would, in most cases, be better ; and 
then most of the trees of even tlie third class would ])e 
taken out. 

Where the young growth starts from natural seeding, 
so tliat often twenty and more trees start on one square 
foot, the crowding begins very early and it would be 



CARE AND PEOTECTION OF THE FOREST 101 

better if the majority of little plants were taken out or 
destroyed before tliey are a foot high. To do this well 
would cost too much, and the forester usually leaves the 
thicket to itself until it is about twenty years old, when he 
thins it out in much the same way as described above. 




Fig. '35. Thinned, luit will need it again 



To get a better idea as to how nmch ought to be cut 
it may be said that for pine on good pine land there ought 
not to be left more than ten trees on one square rod at the 
age of twenty, four at forty, two at sixty, and one at a 
hundred years, as tabulated on the following page. 



102 



FIKST BOOK OF EORESTKY 



THE NUMBER OF TREES ON ONE ACRE IF FULLY STOCKED 





For 


Pine 


For Spruce 


"When the Stand 
IS Old 










On a Good Site 


On an Inferior 
Site 


On a Good Site 


On an Inferior 
Site 


20 years , 


1600 


2000 








40 '• . . . 


700 


1200 


1000 


2000 


60 " . . . 


300 


600 


500 


800 


80 "... 


200 


350 


300 


400 


100 "... 


175 


250 


250 


300 


120 "... 


150 


200 


225 


275 





By. dividing these figures by 160 (the number of square 
rods in an acre) we can readily find how many trees we 
may leave on one square rod. 

Many foresters are guided by the crowns and thin just 
enough to keep the crowns from crowding. 

Naturally enough, trees which, like spruce, balsam, 
beech, and maple, can tolerate much shade, are thinned 
later, and must be thinned less thoroughly, if they are 
to clean themselves and grow smooth stems, than the 
intolerant kinds, which clean more easily. On the whole, 
thinning is one of the most difficult things the forester 
has to learn, and much good sense and care, as well as 
experience, are needed to do it well. 

That injured and crippled trees and also those with 
unduly spreading crowns should be taken out is self- 
evident. After a thinning our woods should be evenly 
and well stocked with as perfect trees as can be produced. 




103 



104 ElKST BOOK OF FOKESTKY 

PeOTECTIOX xVGAlNST IXJUKY FROM THE ELEMENTS 

Fire. — For our American forests, fire has been, and is 
even now, the most dangerous enemy. When the white 
man first came to this country he found an undisturbed con- 
tinuous forest covering the eastern United States. When 
the " cruisers " of forty years ago located timber lands 
in Michigan and Wisconsin there were few extensive 
"burns," or areas where the fire had converted the forest 
into a barren waste. To-day many millions of acres are 
burns; large ones are found in Maine, Canada, in the 
Lake States, and the forests of the Rocky Mountains. 
The Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges are fairly dotted 
with unsightly burns ; and e^'en the ever-dripping, fog- 
shrouded forests of red hr in Washington have suffered 
extensive and most destructive fires. 

Our hardwoods or broad-leaved forests have never been 
ravaged by fires to any great extent ; fire is a danger 
chiefly of the coniferous forest, particularly of the pineries 
covering the large sandy districts of both the North and 
South and the dry mountain forests of tlie West. 

In our settled districts forest fires are rather uncommon 
and the danger is steadily growing less ; but in our large 
pineries, and wherever extensive lumbering is done in 
coniferous forests, fires are of common yearly occurrence. 
Now and then, during dry seasons, they are more numerous 
and some of tliem become truly terrific. 




105 



lOG FIRST HOOK OF FOKESTRY 

The Miramichi fire of 1825 in New Brunswick, the Pesh- 
tigo fire of 1871 in Wisconsin, the great fires in Michigan 
of the same year, and the great Hinckley fire of 1894 in 
Minnesota destroyed several towns and hundreds of farms ; 
they cost the lives of many hundreds of people and con- 
sumed millions of feet of timber. 

The behavior of fire differs very much in different kinds 
of woods and even in the same woods at different times. 
In Georgia and Florida pineries it may ])e merely a light 
'' surface fire/' consuming the thin layer of long pine 
needles, and usually traveling along at a very moderate 
rate. In the denser parts of the mixed woods of the Adi- 
rondacks it is a ground fire, eating along on the surface of 
the earth and in the dry layer of the duff' so slowly that a 
whole day's burning adds only an acre or two to the burn. 

On the other hand, a fire in one of the large slashes, 
especially in the drier lake countries and the West, may, 
after it gets well started, travel by fits and leaps ; and the 
draft is often so great that burning brands are carried 
through the air for several hundred yards, lighting new 
fires as they fall. Then it becomes a forest fire of the 
dangerous kind, and if the lone settler and his family 
have any great distance to run in order to reach a large 
clearing or other point of safety, they are almost sure to 
be overtaken and suffocated, if not actuallv burned. 

To what extent the woods are destroyed by the fire 
differs in much the same way. In the southern pinerj^ it 



CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 107 



may be only tlie litter and the little seedlings and young 
plants which are cleaned up; in the mixed woods of the 
Adirondacks a large part, often all the timber, dies w^her- 
ever the hre has occurred (see Fig. 42) ; in the Hinckley 
fire the forest was not only killed for miles, but in many 
places almost everything was cleared ; all dry limbs, tops, 




Vui. :i8. The Camp Fire as it should be 

dead tim])er, standing or down, were entirely consumed. 
In a dense stand of green pine, balsam, or spruce it is a 
common thing for the fire, intensely hot as it is, not 
merely to kill all the trees, but to burn a large part of 
the limbs with their resin-filled leaves, fairly roaring as 
it shoots up one tree after another, and often flashing 
through the crowns of several dozen at a time. A few 
years later these trees are all bare skeletons (see Fig. 36), 



108 riilST BOOK OF rORESTEY 

ready to be tlirown down by the winds, and the forest is 
changed into an impenetrable tangle, ready for another 
and far more serious fire. 

Fires usually start in the woods through the careless- 
ness of man, for at least all of our eastern forests were 
almost free from large barns until lumbering and settle- 
ment began. A common cause is the camp fire left burn- 
ing in the woods. To go away from a camp fire without 
putting it out is gross negligence. 

To have a camp fire under control, it should be built in 
the right place. To build a fire against a large fallen 
trunk, especially large rotten logs, to start it on a thick 
bed of pine or spruce leaves, or on a thick layer of duff, is 
a common mistake. Such a fire would often require more 
than a hundred pails of water to put it out. A better 
way is to pick out a clean spot — for a mere lunch or 
dinner fire, a sandy or gravelly river bar or similar place 
— and then to build the fire of two larger sticks and an 
armful of small material, as shown in the picture. Such 
a fire is convenient to cook by and easy to put out. 

Fires are sometimes set intentionally ; more often, how- 
ever, they start from clearing land, also from locomotives, 
and even from lightning. 

To fight fire in the woods is usually difficult. In most 
cases it costs considerable time and effort merely to locate 
it ; for though the smoke is easily seen at a distance, to 
find the fire is often quite a task. 



CAKE AND PROTECTIOX OF THE FOREST 109 

When finally it is located it may be half a mile from 
the nearest water, and to carry water even a quarter of a 
mile through ordinary Adirondack or similar wildwoods 
to put out a fire covering only two acres of land would 
often require ten men's service for several days, and the 
fire would most likely grow beyond control instead of 
being extinguished. For this reason water is rarely used, 
except where a small fire is just starting, as when we wish 
to put out the neglected camp fire. In fact, real forest 
fires are not usually put out at all ; the men merely try to 
check their spreading and thus restrict them to as small 
an area as possible. After days of fighting and watching, 
the fire will finally die out or else be extinguished by 
rain. 

In places where former fires have cleaned all the dead 
and dry material on the ground, the mere beating out of 
the fire at the edges and cleaning a strip twenty to thirty 
inches wide with a rake does good service. 

Early mornings and late evenings is the time to work, 
for during the heat of the day the fire is usually so hot 
that men cannot work near it. In heavy timber where 
much ]jlack duff covers the ground the raking alone is 
useless, and a trench must be made. Such a trench, if 
only twelve inches wide, is a good barrier against a slowly 
progressing fire. In any case the fire must be watched, 
for it is sure to cross either line or trench. When once 
the heat is such that the fire travels as fast as a man 



110 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

walks and begins to run even in the tops of the trees, as 
well as on the ground, real fighting comes to an end and 
only a '' back fire " is of any use. 

A back fire is a line of fire set by the men to meet the 
main fire. Thus, if the main fire travels eastward and 
has a front of three hundred yards, the men run on ahead 
to eastward and start a line of fires, so that the main fire 
along this line finds most of the material consumed and 
thus loses its force, and in favorable cases is stopped 
entirely. Such a back fire should be started a good dis- 
tance from the main fire, often half a mile or more away, 
along some road, trail, creek, or raked fire line or trench. 
The men watch the back fire to keep it from crossing 
their line. If it is to succeed, the back fire should have a 
good start, and burn fifty yards or more before it meets 
the main fire. Trenching for the back fire is best done 
early, as soon as daylight ; the fire had better be started 
later, so that it will burn lively at once. 

" An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure " is 
an old saying and applies to the forest fire. 

Wherever settlement has opened large fields or clearings 
between tracts of forest and thus divides the woods into 
well-separated blocks, serious forest fires no longer need 
be feared. 

Even a moderate amount of such clearing, together 
with the network of roads, has helped to protect the 
pineries of the South ; and in New Jersey the opening of 




Ill 



112 FIRST BOOK OF FOREBTPvY 

broad roadways, as fire lanes, through the larger pine 
woods is contemplated, in order to prevent fires and to 
help in fighting them. Such a system of fire lanes is 
used in the larger forests of Europe, and even in British 
India, and is probably the best means of protection for 
many of our extensive coniferous forests. Since hardwood 
forests do not take fire as readily as pine, etc., strips or 
belts of hardwoods have been used along some of the 
railways in Europe to protect the pine woods from the 
sparks of the locomotives. For the same reason it is 
recommended to use such belts of hardwoods to break up 
larger bodies of pine, etc., and also to use a mixture of 
hardwoods with conifers. In addition, it is necessary that 
everybody in and about the woods should watch and help, 
and for this reason should know the danger and the law. 

To teach and to warn the public, the authorities of sev- 
eral states and the United States, as well as many private 
owners, are now distributing ^' fire notices " in conspicuous 
places along roads, trails, and streams in all parts of the 
forest. 

Storms. — If we should look over the old maps of the 
many townships of Wisconsin, we would see so many 
" windfalls " marked by the surveyors that it would seem 
as if Wisconsin were a regular storm state. This would 
be an error, for a trip through the South would convince 
us that storms have there been more frequent, covered 
larger areas, acted with more force, and destroyed more 




113 



114 



FIRST BOOK OF FOPvESTRY 



timber. Against storms the forester is helpless. Not 
so with regard to ordinary winds. Against these, as we 
have seen, he can protect the woods by the ordinary selec- 
tion method so that no part of the forest is ever exposed ; 



»*■■ 


\ 


m 


! 


■ ,:! 




^.<I''/- s?*&Miii»a^^ 




^'T-wirfHiy. 


Asiessj&sil^SiiSf Br£^^ ' t , ''r 





Fig. 41. The Fires have cleaned up 
(After Bureau of Forestry) 

and also by beginning with the cutting of any tract or 
block of woods on the east side, and thus working in the 
direction from which the prevailing wind comes. 

In other ways the elements often damage forests. 
Frost kills young plants; snow loads down the crowns of 
w eaker trees and bends them low, often breaking them ; 



CARE AND PKOTECTION OK THE EOKEST Ho 

in cold weather fog and rain lay a covering of ice on aU 
the limbs ; twigs and leaves of conifers, and frequently 
even large branches are broken off by the great weight of 

this ice. 

By selecting hardy kinds of trees for frosty places, and 
by starting young growth either in the nursery or under 
the protection of older trees the forester will avoid loss 
from frost ; but, on the whole, he is rather powerless against 
these injuries, which, in northern localities, do considerable 
harm. 

Protection against Animals 

If we take a stroll in the woods during summer and 
look for animals instead of trees, we shall see a few squir- 
rels, perhaps a rabbit, and many little paths made by mice, 
though probably few of the mice themselves. We may 
also see a number of birds busily hopping and flying about 
and finding food for themselves and their brood. But if 
we sit down by an old stump, a dead or newly felled tree, 
and begin to look for smaller things, we are soon convinced 
that for every bird and larger animal we see dozens and 
hundreds of the "little people," the insects. Troops of 
ants are busily looking for prey, seizing any stray cater- 
pillar, grub, worm, or other animal they can master, 
carrying it off bodily or tearing it to pieces. Little hunt- 
ing beetles go singly, exploring every crack and boring ; 
and wee little brown beetles may be found boring in the 



116 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

bark and even the wood of the newly felled stem. Above and 
around us we notice flies, wasps, millers, and butterflies, and 
a world of smaller winged insects restlessly flitting about. 

Insects. — Of all animals this vast army of the " little 
people" are by far the most dangerous enemies of the for- 
ests. Thus, the bark beetle, in the early seventies, ruined 
over twenty-two thousand acres of spruce in Bohemia 
alone ; the caterpillar of the nun moth devastated in East 
Prussia, between 1853 and 1863, over two hundred and 
sixty thousand acres, killing more than four and a half 
million cords of timber. In our own country the gypsy 
moth has become the terror of woodlands in Massachusetts, 
and nearly a million dollars of state money alone has been 
expended in fighting it. The bark beetles have destroyed 
enormous quantities of timber in Maryland, in the Vir- 
ginias, and in North Carolina ; the larva of a sawfly has 
destroyed the tamarack in the Adirondacks ; the tent cater- 
pillar is ravaging many of our hardwoods ; while tussock 
moth and bagworm are ruining thousands of shade trees 
as well as trees of the woodlands. 

The " little people " accomplish these great feats of 
destruction through their ability to multiply very rapidly 
and thus to act in immense numbers. The mother bark 
beetle of this spring may be represented by half a million 
of her offspring before the end of the second season; and 
even the leaf-eating moth may have four hundred thousand 
descendants in a period of only three years. 




117 



118 FIRST book! OF FOKESTRY 

The mischief done by forest insects is very varied. The 
bark beetles kill nearly all kinds of trees by a queer process 
of girdling; the moths operate through their larvae, the 
caterpillars, and usually kill by eating the leaves and 
buds ; the weevils destroy young plants ; the pruner beetles 
injure by gnawing off the young tips ; gall gnats and 
plant lice do damage by the production of galls ; scale 
insects suck the juice, and thereby cripple the leaves and 
injure the bark; while the mole cricket and other insects 
gnaw young roots, and thereby often destroy the smaller 
plants. But even after the tree is dead its wood is still 
liable to be spoiled for most uses by some long-horned 
beetles and their larvoe, the " sawyers," as well as the 
regular timber beetles. Of all these the bark beetles and 
moths with their larvse, the grubs, and caterpillars, are 
by far the worst enemies of the forest. 

Let us examine these more closely. In Fig. 46 we 
have the bark beetle and its work. In the spring these 
tiny beetles fly, usually in pairs, and hunt up some suitable 
tree. After tliey have found what they want, usually 
some large, old or injured tree, they bore through, the 
bark, and the female soon begins to bore a passage or 
gallery, either altogether in the soft bark or else partly in 
the bark and partly in the wood, as shown in the figure. 

Along this passage she lays from fifty to a hundred 
eggs, distributing them along both sides. When the 
eggs hatch the little grubs begin to bore in the direction 




Fig. 43. The Imported Elm Leaf Beetle (Cah'rKnlht hitfohi) 

a, foliage of European elm, showing method of work of heetle and larva; h, adult 
beetle; c, egg mass; d, young larv;e; e, lull-grown larva; g, pupa— all 
greatly enlarged; /, mouth parts of full-grown larva — still more enlarged. 
(After Howard) -.-.c^ 



120 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 




away from the gallery of the mother beetle, and thus the 
many little parallel galleries and odd patterns seen in the 
figure are produced by this one family. After a few 
weeks the grub, or larva, wraps itself up in the wood dust 
made by its tunneling, and about three weeks later has 

changed into a beetle. This 
beetle may bore out at once 
and hunt another tree and 
thus repeat the cycle, so that 
a second or, in some cases, 
even a third brood is produced 
during the same season. 

Examining the figure, it is 
evident that, if many such 
families lived in this same 
branch, the branch would be fairly girdled ; each little 
gallery would hinder the water from going up, and also 
hinder the food made by the leaves from coming down, 
and the effect would be exactly as if the bark were stripped 
and the tree girdled. As soon as these beetles appear in 
large numbers, so that a hundred and more occur on,every 
square foot of the trunk, the tree is doomed. It is generally 
believed that these beetles prefer sickly or dying trees; but 
it is certain that when once they are very numerous they 
readily attack sound as well as injured trees. 

Some bark beetles occur in our woods at all times ; but 
it is only when their enemies are asleep, and when numerous 



Fig. 44. Pine Weevil: Adult 

Beetle, Pupa, and Grul), 

or Larva (enlarged) 

(After Packard) 



CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 121 



injured^ sickly, or dying trees make it especially easy 
for beetles to get food and multiply, that they become 
really dangerous. 

From this it is clear that a well-kept piece of woods, 
where all trees are thrifty and the puny, crippled, or over- 




FiG. 45. Scale Insect on White-Pine Leaves 

At 2a is a bunch of ordinary leaves for comparison; 2, twig and stunted leaves 
covered by scale insect; 2 6, 2c, female, and 2d, male of scale insect (enlarged) 

ripe trees, and also all dead timber, are regularly cut out, 
is not likely to be infested by bark beetles. Should they 
come from a neighboring badly kept piece of woods, the 



122 



FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTKY 



only elective way of fighting them is by cutting a number 
of "trap trees." This is best done by girdling or felling 
a number of the smaller, })oorer trees, about lifty yards 





B 




C 



Fig. 46. Bark Beetles and theii- Work 



A, Galleries on a block of wood, just beneath the bark ; B, the bark beetle Tomicus ; 
C, the bark beetle Dendroctonus. Natural size is indicated by straight line 
between beetles 



CAKE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 123 



apart, all over the piece of woods, if it is small, or per- 
haps only ill that part where the beetles have begun their 
work. In the milder part of our country the first set of 




Fig. 47. A Destroyer of Forest and Shade Tree : the White- 
Marked Tussock Moth 

a, larva ; b, female pupa ; c, male pupa ; d, e, male moth ; /, female moth ; g, same 

depositino- eggs; h, egg mass; i, male coeoous: k, female cocoons, with moths 
carrying eggs. (After Howard) 



124 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

trees should be cut about the middle of May ; in the South 
this should be done earlier, in the North later. A fresh set 
should then be cut each month until fall. Each set of 
trap trees, with all twigs and smaller branches, should be 
burned whenever a new set of trees has been prepared. 
If the work is successful, the beetles are attracted by 
the felled trees and bore into them in large numbers. 
When the trees are taken out and the bark is burned 
it catches the young brood, since they have not yet 
changed into beetles and escaped. Generally these trap 
trees catch a large number of other wood-boring vermin 
besides the common beetles. 

The second group of dangerous forest insects, the 
moths, differ very much from the bark beetles in their way 
of living and behavior. 

Thus, the white-marked tussock moth, shown in Fig. 47, 
in central New York, for instance, lays its eggs about the 
middle of July. These eggs keep through the winter 
and hatch the following spring, the young caterpillar 
emerging about the end of May. The caterpillar feeds 
on the leaves of whatever tree it may be on, and grows to 
full size by the end of June. Then it " spins up," i.e., it 
attaches itself to the bark on a limb or the trunk of the 
tree and spins around itself a cocoon, in which it stays 
as a pupa for about two weeks while it changes from a 
caterpillar into a moth or miller. Soon after the moths 
come out of the cocoons the female, which in this species 



CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE EOREST 125 

has only dwarfed wings and therefore does not fly, begins 
to lay her eggs. These she lays in clusters, sometimes 




Fig. 48. Fall Web worm 

a, moth; b, pupa (out of cocoon); c, caterpillar; d, piece of web with caterpillar 
hanging by its own thread ; e, moth and cocoon on board and twig 

containing three hundred or more eggs, and covers them 
with a white frothy matter which dries and protects the 
eggs during the winter. After this the female moth dies 
at once. In warmer districts, as in Maryland and Virginia, 



126 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

the eggs hatch much earher, and instead of having only 
one whole generation of the insects in a year, as in the 
North, there are as many as three, so that the number of 
insects increases very rapidly. 

With most of the moths that are dangerous to our for- 
ests, both male and female are winged and fly. All of 
them pass through the four distinct stages : egg, cater- 
pillar, pupa, and adult or moth; and all are injurious only 
in the caterpillar state. 

Though some moths may be found in our woods every 
season, it is only at long intervals that they become real 
pests and cause great damage ; and even then the calamity 
rarely lasts many years in succession. 

Since the caterpillars live on green leaves and buds, 
trees of all sizes and ages are liable to their attack. Some 
kinds of caterpillars prefer hardwoods, some conifers ; 
some eat all kinds, while a few of them eat leaves of only 
one or a few kinds of trees. 

Where the caterpillars attack a pure stand of spruce 
or pine forest, so that every tree furnisher the most 
desirable kind of food, the trouble is naturally much 
greater than in a mixed stand, where possibly half of 
all the trees are entirely safe from the attack of this 
particular insect. 

To prevent the ravages of caterpillars, the forester can 
do but little. Where the land and climate permit, it is 
well to raise only mixed woods. Generally it is well to 





Fig. 49. One of the Greatest Friends of the Forest 

Upper figure, ichneumon fly : d, as an adult fly ; a, b, as a grub. Lower figure, 
destruction of caterpillar by ichneumon : a, caterpillar with eggs of ichneumon 
(white on dark area) ; b, egg (enlarged) ; c, dark area with eggs (enlarged) ; 
d, larvae of ichneumon feeding on pupa; e, pupa of caterpillar destroyed, 
larvaR of ichneumon in pupa state 

127 



l28 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

keep the woods well cleaned and thinned ; and in all cases 
we should encourage and protect all kinds of insect-eating 
birds and also such animals as the shrew, mole, and bat. 

In Europe large sums have been expended in collecting 
egg masses as they cling to the bark of trees, also in col- 
lecting the pupae and killing the young caterpillars while 
they are still in large clusters together. 

These methods have also been tried in our country, 
but only for the protection of shade trees. In Bavaria 
and other states all the trees of entire forests have been 
supplied with rings of a special sticky preparation, which 
keeps the newly hatched caterpillars from climbing the 
stem and causes them to perish in large numbers. 
Though this has been successful in some cases, it is 
generally too expensive. 

When once the caterpillars exist in large numbers 
man's efforts are entirely in vain ; for while it is quite 
easy to spray a few peach trees when infested, the use of 
a poison spray in the woods is out of the question ; the 
trees are too large and the cost too great. 

Fortunately, the multiplication of the injurious insects, 
whether bark beetles or caterpillars, causes a multiplica- 
tion of their strongest enemies, — predaceous and para- 
sitic insects, and disease. 

A large number of widely differing kinds of insects are 
hunters and live exclusively on other insects, eating or 
destroying them in every state, preferably as larva3 (grubs, 



CARE AND PKOTECTION OF THE FOREST 129 

worms, caterpillars), and also in the egg. Thus, one of 
the ladybird beetles was specially imported, and is used 
by the fruit growers of California to subdue one of the 
worst scale insects. But while these many useful hunting 
insects undoubtedly do great service in keeping down the 
numbers, thus preventing a real calamity of destructive 
insects, it is chiefly the parasites, together with diseases, 
which shorten and stamp out the insect plague when once 
it exists. 

A typical case where a parasitic insect is making itself 
useful to the forester is shown in Fig. 49. Here one of 
our common ichneumon flies, by depositing its eggs on a 
caterpillar, insures its destruction. Commonly the cater- 
pillar is killed even before it is able to spin up or enter 
the pupa state, and never does it get beyond this. Since 
the ichneumons usually have more than one generation dur- 
ing one season, their number multiplies rapidly. These 
little wasplike insects move rapidly from caterpillar to 
caterpillar, stinging and depositing their eggs, one or 
several, as they go, and rarely attack a caterpillar which 
has already been stung by one of their kind. In this way 
they not only kill leaf-eating caterpillars, but attack the 
larvae (grubs) of beetles, and thus are the best and most 
powerful animal friends of the forest. 

Diseases usually help in destroying forest caterpillars 
whenever they become very abundant. This is especially 
true during wet seasons and in moist localities. Some of 



130 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

the diseases are due to ordinary fungus plants, similar 
to those which kill our house flies in the fall of the 
year, when they may be seen clinging to window panes, 
surrounded by a ring of dustlike spores (seeds of fungi). 

Insect pests in pine and spruce are usually much more 
serious than in hardwoods, since conifers generally are 
not so resistant as the broad-leaved trees. If the leaves 
of a pine tree are eaten off, it is quite sure to die ; while a 
maple may survive though it loses its leaves two seasons 
in succession. 

From what we have learned it is clear that the leaf- 
eating insects help the bark beetles, and also that these 
latter are favored wherever the forest trees are injured by 
storm and snow or by fire, and even when they are in a 
weakened condition from poverty of soil or lack of mois- 
ture. Thus, things are very apt to go from bad to worse, 
even in the woods. ^ 

Mammals. — Of the larger animals it is chiefly the 
rodents — mice, rabbits, and squirrels — and also the 
grazers — deer, sheep, goats, and cattle — which become 
injurious in forests. 

The mice and rabbits injure young trees by gnawing 
the bark ; mice and squirrels eat the seeds ; while the 
grazing animals browse off the leaves and green shoots 
of young trees and thus cripple and often destroy them. 
Where cattle and sheep go in larger numbers, or where a 
small flock has the run of a small wood all summer, they 



CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 131 

naturally trample out many young seedlings and thus pre- 
vent the starting of any young growth. To keep down 
mice and rabbits it is usually sufficient to protect or quit 
hunting their natural enemies, the owl and the hawk 
(buzzard), the fox, weasel, and mink. 

Where a farmer has not enough pasture and feels that 
he must use his woods, it has been found best to let cattle 
in part of the woods and keep them out of those portions 
where a young growth is to be started. After the sap- 
lings are ten feet high they are well out of reach of the 
animals, and the place may then be opened to cattle. 

On the whole, grazing and the growing of timber do not 
go well together ; for if the forest is as dense as it should 
be, there is but little grass, and the animals are poorly fed 
and constantly tempted to roam and browse. Sheep and 
cattle generally do not eat pine, sj^ruce, and other conifers. 

Protection against Injurious Plants 

In our walk through a piece of wildwoods we noticed 
fungus growths, little upturned shelves on beech and 
maple, wherever they had been blazed or notched with 
the ax. 

Were we to look a little more closely, we should find a 
great deal of such growth and learn that fungi, too, rank 
among the enemies of our woods. The amount of destruc- 
tion in old wildwoods is, naturally, very great, for here it 



132 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

is necessary that the wood of dead trees be converted into 
dust to prevent the ground from becoming covered with 
dead timber. Such a cover would bring all forest growth 
to a standstill, there would no longer be room for trees, 
and its destruction by fungi, therefore, is useful. It is 
Nature's way of clearing the ground for new generations 
of trees. But, like many useful things, these fungi overdo 
their work, and at the slightest provocation attack good, 
thrifty trees. Thus, if a wind tears off the large limb of 
a maple, beech, birch, poplar, or other perishable kind of 
tree, fungi at once begin their work of destruction ; the 
interior begins to decay; limbs and stem are hollowed out; 
the tree is weakened and becomes an easy prey to bark 
beetles or a storm. Once on the ground, a few years in 
our moister districts sufhco to convert the trunk and all 
into a powdery mass of decayed wood, which is spread out 
by insects and water, and thus helps to ^improve the soil 
for a new growth. Though the trees w^ith perishable 
woods are more subject to this injury than those in which 
resin and other substances make the wood more durable, 
yet all kinds of our trees suffer more or less. Thus, even 
the durable cypress is injured by a fungus, which causes 
it to become " pecky," and our white cedars are generally 
" hollow butted," the stump being decayed so much that 
it is a common defect of cedar timber. 

From this it appears that clean woods, composed of 
thrifty, uninjured trees^, suffer much less from injurious 



USE OF THE FOREST 133 

fungi, and also that especially the more sensitive trees, 
like maple, beech, spruce, etc., cannot stand being hacked 
and scalped with the ax, or barked in felling and dragging 
out timber, but are almost sure to suffer further injury if 
thus hurt. 

In the South and West the mistletoe is a factor in the 
destruction of trees. In California many of the noble 
white oaks are yielding their lives to this j)arasite. 



USE OF THE FOREST 

We have already learned how to start new growth and 
how to care for it, and thereby keep up the forest. Let us 
now consider what we may get from the forest and how 
the material is usually taken out and used. 

To primitive man the forest gave meat, shelter, and 
fuel. At the beginning of our era the people of central 
and northern Europe, and nearly all of the people of North 
America, obtained their food by hunting and fishing. With 
us to-day the forest no longer furnishes meat ; the people 
are too many, the forests too small. 

But while it no longer furnishes our meat, it still sup- 
plies the great mass of our fuel, as well as the lumber and 
timber for the houses which shelter -us. In addition it 
was the forest, with its large, soft, easily shapen timbers, 
which alone made it possible for the ancient Phoenicians to 
trade with the people of the North Sea, and for Columbus 



184 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

to find the New World ; and even to-day a large part of 
our people and goods are carried in thousands of wooden 
ships, landing at hundreds of miles of costly wooden wharfs. 
Our thousands of miles of railway rest on millions of 
wooden ties, and cross on thousands of miles of wooden 
trestles and bridges. The grain and goods of our land are 
hauled in wooden boxes and barrels, on wooden wagons, 
in wooden cars, and are housed in wooden structures; 
and, in spite of the great progress of our times, we still 
finish even the finest of parlors in wood ; we prefer a 
wooden chair and table to any other, and the choicest of 
furniture is of wood in its natural colors and appearance. 
One of our greatest needs, that of cheap paper, was sup- 
plied only when man learned to make paper from the 
common product of our forest. Nor is this all, for the 
very mines which supply us with coal for fuel and with 
iron for our manufactures require millions of feet of tim- 
ber every year, if they are to be worked with any degree 
of economy. 

Thus, we see that the forest was necessary to the sav- 
age ; that on the forest depended the progress of our race ; 
and that even to-day, in this age of steel, the product of 
the forest is used in greater quantities and supphes a 
greater variety of demands than ever before. 

Let us examine a little more in detail the ways in 
which some of our farmers utilize their woods. 



USE OF THE FOREST 



135 



Cutting Timber 

Season. — Generally the work in the woods is done in 
winter. This is better, since the cold retards or prevents 




Fig. 50. Cutting Spruce in the Adirondacks 
(After W. F. Fox) 

fungi from spoiling the Avood by '' bluing" or discoloring, 
or by starting decay. It is also much better on account 



136 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

of insects, for during winter these pests are inactive, practi- 
cally dormant, and thus they do not injure the timber 
which is cut, nor does the felling lead to an increased 
multiplication of these ever-present enemies of the forest. 
Besides this, there is little work on the farm during winter, 
and thus help is more easily procured. To this must be 
added, in colder districts at least, the advantages gained 
by a good fall of snow, which makes it so much easier to 
drag and haul timber. 

Fireivood. — For this it is customary to use only such 
pieces as will make nothing better. For ordinary house 
use, all tops, the trunks of short, crooked, or otherwise 
unsalable trees, and in many cases even stumps, are used. 
If the firewood is to be sold, it is better to grade it so 
that the better and poorer kinds are not mixed, as is so 
often done ; for a few sticks of poor wQod give the whole 
pile a bad appearance and thus lower its price. Usually 
firewood is cut in four-foot lengths and stacked in piles 
four feet high and eight feet long, such a pile being one 
cord. A cord is a legal measure, and as such requires that 
the pile be four feet wide, or in ordinary cases that the pieces 
be cut four feet long. Where people buy stove wood sixteen 
to eighteen inches long, the cord is frequently meant to be 
a pile of this short wood four feet high and eight feet long, 
and thus is really but about a third of a cord. 

In all cases there is much air space between the pieces 
of such a pile, and though the pile contains one hundred 




Fig. 51. The Tools we use 



a, crosscut saw ; b, peavey, to turn logs ; c, ax ; d, billhook ; e, broadax, to hew 
logs ; /, frow, to split or rive shingles 

-I O" 



138 



FIRST B0(3K OF FORESTRY 



and tweuty-eiglit cubic feet, there are only about ninety 
cubic feet of solid wood in a regular cord. 

Larger pieces are split to allow a better drying or sea- 
soning, and split wood is always preferred to round pieces. 




Fig. 52. Skidding Spruce Logs in the Adirondacks 
(After W. F. Fox) 

A cord, as ordinarily cut, contains about two hundred 
pieces and weighs, when fresh, about four to five thousand 
pounds. 

For ordinary use the heavy woods, like oak, hickory, 
beech, maple, etc., and especially the " second growth," 
are preferred. The lighter kinds, like poplar and bass- 
wood, are not readily sold for this purpose. 



USE OF THE FOREST 



139 



Of late years many farmers haul their firewood in large 
pieces to some convenient place near the house, and saw 
it into stove lengths with horse power or threshing engine. 

Since firewood cannot be used economically without 




Fig. do. " Scaling," or measuring and stamping or marking 

Spruce Logs 

(After W. F. Fox) 

being first seasoned, it is often advisable to keep firewood 
one year on the pile, so as to get this advance in value 
and at the same time make easier hauling. 

To leave firewood in large piles in the woods is always 
a bad policy, for nearly all kinds of wood commence to 



140 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

decay under such circumstances, and perishable woods, 
hke beech, maple, and birch, will lose as much as twenty- 
five per cent of their value in one year. 

Pulp Wood. — In the vicinity of pulp mills, soft woods 
like spruce, poplar, aspen, balsam, and also hemlock, pine, 
basswood, tulip poplar, and others, can usually be sold to 
good advantage. 

Since the pulp mill can use small pieces, down to two 
feet in length and four inches in diameter, a great deal of 
the sapling material, which should be taken out in thin- 
nings, can thus be utilized. 

For pulp the wood should be green, sound, straight, 
and as free from knots as possible ; in other words, just 
such wood as grows in a close stand, where the trees are 
obliged to clean early. 

Pulp wood is sold by the cord, ancl when rossed, i.e.^ 
the bark taken off, it sells as high as ten dollars per cord. 

Pulp is made from the wood in two distinct ways, — 
by grinding, and by maceration with chemicals. In mak- 
ing " ground " pulp the blocks of wood are held and pressed 
by a machine against a large grindstone on which a small 
stream of water is playing all the time. In this way the 
fine particles of wood which are ground away are carried 
off by the water into large vats. 

This coarse, mushy wood pulp is then sifted, washed, 
and stirred, and finally passes over an endless piece of 
cloth, where it is freed from the water. After this it may 






(t 






a: 
a 



Cfq 




141 



142 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

merely be pressed into a soft, pasteboard-like paper, baled, 
and shipped to regular paper mills without drying, or else 
it is made at once into ordinary paper, such as is used by 
newspapers. 

In making '' chemical pulp," or " cellulose," as it is 
called, the blocks are chipped into short, small pieces, the 
fragments of knots are sifted out, and the rest of the 
wood is placed in large boilers called digesters, where it 
is boiled in a solution of sulphite of lime, more rarely of 
caustic soda. During the boiling the digester is kept 
firmly closed, so that a steam pressure of about a hundred 
pounds per square inch is developed. The boihng is con- 
tinued for about six hours if soda, and for twenty-four 
hours, and even longer, if sulphite of lime is used. In 
this boiling the wood softens and becomes mushy. It is 
then ground, washed, and finally treate'd in the same way 
as ground pulp. 

The cellulose, or chemical pulp, is much finer than 
ground pulp, and can be used for ordinary papers without 
any bleaching. 

One cord of spruce gives about six to eight hundred 
pounds of chemical pulp or twelve hundred pounds of 
ground pulp. So far, nearly all pulp is used in the manu- 
facture of paper. 

Acid Wood. — In some districts of , Pennsylvania, New 
York, and other states "acid factories" require large 
quantities of wood, preferably beech, maple, and birch. 



USE OF THE FOREST 



143 



This industry usually demands sound, split ''body," or 
log wood, fifty-two inches instead of forty-eight inches 
long, so that the acid men get nearly one and a tenth 
cords for each cord they buy. In making acid the wood 




Fig. 55. Rolling in Spruce Logs on Ampersand Creek 

is_heated for about ten hours in large steam-boiler-like 
vessels called retorts. As the wood grows hotter and 
hotter it gives off gases, part of which are cooled into 
liquids in a " worm " or coiled tube, kept cool by a stream 



144 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

of cold water. The greater part of these Uquids is wood 
vinegar, and a small portion pure acetic acid, wood alcohol, 
and, toward the last of the heating, some creosote and tar. 
The wood vinegar is employed in dye works ; the alcohol 
by painters, hat makers, and in chemical works ; while the 
acetic acid is largely used for vinegar. 

The retort usually holds about two thirds of a cord of 
wood, and an ordinary factory of twenty-four retorts thus 
requires about sixteen cords for each charge. They usu- 
ally run night and day, refilling every twelve hours, so 
that one of these factories uses eight thousand cords or 
more per year. 

Posts. — In former years, when most of our farms were 
surrounded with rail fences, commonly of the '^ worm- 
fence " type, enormous quantities of good oak, chestnut, 
and other timber were converted into fence rails. Wher- 
ever logs have a reasonably good market this wasteful 
use of timber is disappearing, and wire or "wire-slat" 
fences are taking the place of the old forms. This still 
requires the use of posts, so that both for home use and, 
in many localities, also for the market it pays to raise 
timber for fence posts. 

Since durability is the first quality in a fence post, 
only durable woods, like black locust, catalpa, chestnut, 
white oak, cedar, redwood, and kindred woods should 
be offered; and the post should always be large enough 
so that the heartwood, the only durable part, is sufficient 



USE OF THE FOREST 145 

to hold whatever the post is intended to support. Flimsy 
sapwood posts of cedar or any other timber can only 
injure the market, for it is here as in all kinds of dealing, 

good or poor ware and good or poor measure make 

and unmake the market. 

Where posts are in good demand it will often pay to 
treat a few acres of the woods as coppice. For this pur- 
pose the rotation is short, and, of course, only durable 
woods like white oak, chestnut, locust, catalpa, mulberry, 
etc., should be used. 

Railwmj Ties. — With durable timber, the trees twelve 
to sixteen inches diameter, l^reast high, and also the upper 
logs of larger trees are often profitably cut into railway 
ties. These ties are usually required eight feet long, 
seven inches thick, with two parallel faces eight inches 
wide, and all bark removed ; thus, each contains about five 
cubic feet of wood. When in the track one face is down 
and the other supports the steel rail. Ties are usually 
hewn to finish wherever the tree is felled. A common 
way is to fell the tree, hew two faces as far up from the 
butt as the stem is suited to make ties, and then to cut 
the ties with the crosscut saw. 

Formerly railway companies would buy only hewn ties, 
but of late years most companies accept sawed ties as well. 
The sawing may be done by a small portable sawmill, 
and the tie is either sawed only on two faces or else is 
squared, i.e., sawed on four sides. This sawing is better 



146 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

than the hewmg ; it makes a neater tie and furnishes 
slabs which may be used for fencing, sheds, etc. 

Usually it pays to select the longest and straightest 
pieces and saw them into bridge and switch ties, or for 
trestle timber, for which better prices are paid. 

About sixty ])eY cent of all our ties are made of white 
oak; nearly twenty per cent are pine ; the rest are red- 
wood, cedar, cypress, chestnut, etc. White-oak ties gen- 
erally bring about fifty cents or more per tie, delivered 
at the track. 

Many of our railway companies keep posters at their 
stations, offering to buy ties; and nearly everywhere 
good contracts may be made by one or by several farmers 
acting together to furnish this kind of timber. Since 
every mile of railway needs about twenty-five hundred 
ties, and there are over two himdred thousand miles of 
such roads in our country, it takes millions of acres of 
timber to supply a single set of ties. Such a set has to 
be replaced about every seven years, and thus it is that 
the railways rank among the greatest consumers of wood 
in the land. 

Foles and PlUmj. — Long, slender poles of chestnut, 
white oak, cedar, and other durable kinds of trees are 
often best sold as telegraph and telephone poles and for 
piling. For these purposes long, straight, and durable sticks 
are wanted. They rini from twenty-five to fifty feet in 
length, with an upper diameter from five to eight inches. 



USE OF THE FOREST 147 

The telegraph poles must l)e peeled. Piling pieces, 
which are driven in the ground for support of bridges, 
and even houses, are generally preferred with the bark 
intact. 

The price paid for this class of timber is generally good, 
ranging from two to ten dollars apiece ; but it is cus- 
tomary to find a buyer beforehand, to avoid having to 
store such timber for any lengtli of time. 

Mining limber. — In the neighborhood of coal and 
other mines, many owners of woodlands find a good 
market for a variety of logs to he used as proj^s and 
other supporting timbers. Most of this material serves 
to hold up the earth in the shafts or tunnels, and quite a 
variety of sizes as well as kinds are employed. Since 
wood decays very rapidly in mines, the more permanent 
structures are usually built of durable woods, such as oak 
and chestnut ; but in other parts, or in localities where 
durable woods are costly, such perishable woods as pine, 
maple, birch, hemlock, etc., are employed. 

The logs are commonly delivered in the rough, and are 
sawed and fitted by a special sawmill at the mine. 

Exjjort Thnher. — Occasionally special prices are offered 
to woodsmen for large, choice logs of walnut, cherry, 
yellow poplar, and other kinds of timber, to be shipped 
abroad. 

Export logs are graded mostly by size (diameter), the 
larger sizes bringing the best prices. They are commonly 



148 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

peeled, and their ends painted to avoid undue checking; 
and in many districts they are " rough hewn," i.e., hewn 
so that part of the original round surface is left on the 
timber. This hewing makes it easier to store them in 
the holds of the ships that carry them abroad. 

Shij) Timbers. — In former years many men along our 
north Atlantic coast were engaged in getting out timber 
for the numerous shipyards. The hull of the wooden ship 
of those days had almost solid Avails of heavy timbers, 
covered inside and out with thick planks, fastened with 
locust-tree nails ; and the decks rested on beams supported 
at each side by short, .heavy, bracket-shaped pieces of 
timber called shijjs' knees. 

Though white oak was preferred, nearly all kinds of 
timber were used in these ships. Since the larger timbers, 
ribs, etc., had to be shaped according to the plan of the 
particular ship, they could not be bought in lumber yards ; 
so, as soon as the size and plans of the ship were decided 
upon, crews of men would go to the woods and hew out 
the many pieces. Knees and spars (masts and other 
long poles) were usually kept in yards, and many men 
made it a business to hew out knees or scour the coast 
and the river valleys for fine, straight spar timber. Some 
fine white-pine masts brought as much as two hundred 
dollars apiece. To-day the ship carpenter has largely 
been displaced by the boiler maker, and ships are built 
of steel, shaped in rolling mills. Nevertheless, much 



USE OF THE FOKEST 149 

timber, chiefly lumber for flooring, decking, and the fin- 
ishing of cabins, etc., is still used ; and occasionally crews 
of ship carpenters go inland to hew out a few sets of 
timbers. 

Cooperage cmcl Wagon Stock. — The fine grades of white- 
oak staves and headings for the manufacture of barrels 
for liquids, and also white-oak and hickory spokes and 
fellies used in wheels of wagons and buggies are split out 
of large, sound timber, mostly butt cuts, and many farmers 
and other people are engaged every year in this kind of 
work. Though the prices are usually good, this industry 
is apt to be very wasteful, since so many logs do not split 
well enough and are, therefore, left unused. Like the tan- 
bark man, the cooperage and spoke man should be com- 
bined with the lumberman, so that all the logs unfit for 
staves or spokes may be sawed into boards and planks. 

Besides the fine barrels and casks for coal oil, turpen- 
tine, wine, etc., the cooper also makes barrels for sugar, 
apples, flour, cement, lime, salt, and other dry materials. 
These barrels are called slack barrels; the staves are 
sawed, and of late years shaved off with large machines. 

Nearly all kinds of timber, but particularly elm, red 
oak, ash, beech, birch, and maple for staves, and bass- 
wood and poplar for the headings, are used in this indus- 
try. The logs or bolts are brought to the mills by farmers 
and others and sold by the cord. The logs should be 
over ten inches in diameter and should be two or three 



V)0 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

times as long as the stave, the length varying with the 
different sizes of the barrels. 

Where a wagon shop is near by, it is often profitable to 
cut smaller second-growth timber into wagon axles, bol- 
sters, and wagon tongues, and sell small trees of elm and 
birch for hubs. 

Lumher. — Wherever a lack of pulp mills and other 
factories makes it impossible or unprofitable to utilize the 
larger logs in any better way, tliey can always be sawed 
into lumber. Lumber is a general term for all kinds of 
boards and timber shaped with the saw. 

Lumber in our country is generally, but not always, 
cut in lengths of even feet, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, 
etc., the most common lengths being twelve, fourteen, and 
sixteen feet, and in widths of even inches. 

In thickness lumber varies usually by a quarter of an 
inch, and ranges from one half to twenty inches ; the thinner 
pieces, one quarter to one and three quarters inches thick, 
being called boards (planks in the South) ; those two to four 
inches thick are planks ; and thicker material is timber. 

Lumber is measured hy the superficial foot, which is a 
board one inch thick, twelve inches wide, and twelve inches 
long, so that a board one inch thick, six inches wide, and 
twelve feet long measures six feet board measure, — 
written six feet B.M., — and a plank two inches thick, 
twelve inches wide, and sixteen feet long contains thirty- 
two feet B.M. 






5^ 

o 



*c i^- 




161 



152 riEST BOOK OF FOEESTRY 

Lumber is graded chiefly according to size and defects, 
such as knotSj cracks, discolored or decayed spots, and 
unequal thickness. A board entirely free from any of 
these defects is " clear," and it is evident that young trees 
and badly cleaned trees are not likely to furnish much of 
this valuable material. Generally hardwoods are graded 
much more severely than conifers, and the cheaper always 
more severely than the dearer kinds. 

For flooring, decking, and other purposes, boards are 
often classified into " rift " and " bastard," or tangent, as 
it should be called. In rift boards the rings stand nearly 
vertical, or never less than forty-five degrees to the sur- 
face, as seen in Fig. 58. Rift boards shrink less and wear 
better, and therefore bring better prices. 

Lumber is regular merchandise in all parts of our coun- 
try, and every town has its lumber yards, just as it has 
other stores, where regular lines of lumber, in stock sizes 
and grades, may be bought. 

Aside from firewood the greater jjart of all timber in 
our country is cut into lumber, and it has been estimated 
that over thirty billion feet B.M. were used each year 
during the last quarter of a century. Of this enormous 
amount about seventy-five per cent is pine, spruce, hemlock, 
red fir, and other coniferous material, and twenty-five per 
cent oak, ash, elm, and other hardwoods. Of the conifers 
the white pine has for years furnished about fifty per cent, 
while of the hardwoods about thirty-five per cent is oak. 



USE OF THE FOREST 



153 



Pine, spruce, etc., are mostly cut by large crews of 
regular lunibermen, and are sawed in large mills, but the 
hardwood lumber comes mostly from the farm and is cut 




b o. 

Fig. h^. End of Log, shoMiiig Rift and Bastard Cuts 

Cuts a and h make all rift or quarter-sawed material ; but c and d are 
nearly all tangent or bastard cut 

in small country mills. Of the several kinds of coniferous 
lumber a few are of such great importance that we should 
know a little more about them. 



154 FIRST BOOK OF FOEESTRY 

White pine is the most important lumber in our country, 
and has been so ever since its settlement. Formerly 
an abundance of white pine was cut in New England, 
New York, and Pennsylvania, but of late the greater part 
comes from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. White- 
pine lumber is kept in all yards of the northern states, 
as far west as Dakota ; but the largest markets for this 
lumber are Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo. 
White pine is used chiefly as building lumber, being soft, 
light, insect proof, and always to be had in any quantity 
in all reasonable sizes and all grades ; it has become one 
of the favorite materials, is used for a greater variety of 
purposes, and brings a better price than any other of 
the common kinds of lumber. 

In the South, where a broad belt of pineries stretches 
along the coast from Virginia to Texas, there are three 
varieties of hard-pine lumber, whicli are cut in large 
quantities and are shipped not only to all the northern 
and eastern markets, but also find their way to many 
foreign markets. 

Of these the longleaf or Georgia pine lumber is the 
most important. Georgia pine is cut mostly into timbers 
of long lengths, twenty feet or more, and used for sup- 
ports in large structures, in bridges, trestles, for car sills, 
etc. A considerable amount of this timber is exported to 
Europe, the West Indies, and South America under the 
name of pitch pine^ but by far the greater part is either 



USE OF THE FOREST 155 

used at home or shipped to our larger eastern and north- 
ern markets. Among the most important points of manu- 
facture and shipment are : Savannah and Brunswick, Ga. ; 
Jacksonville and Pensacola, Fla. ; Mobile, Ala. ; Pasca- 
goula, Miss. ; Lake Charles, La. ; and Beaumont, Texas. 

The North Carolina pine is cut in Virginia and North 
Carolina, made mostly into boards, and is marketed at 
Norfolk and Baltimore, and has become a common article 
even in the retail lumber yards of our eastern and northern 
towns. It is often called yellow pine and is extensively 
used as flooring and ceiling, especially in schools and other 
public buildings, where the bright orange-red and yellow 
patterns of this material are brought out strongly by a 
'^ natural " or oil finish. 

The yello'w pi?ie marketed in St. Louis, Kansas City, 
and points in Texas is cut mostly from the true shortleaf 
pine of Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and northern Louisiana. 
It is cut into all sizes, boards and timber, and is the com- 
mon building material of these regions. 

The yelloiv j^i^^ie of the Rocky Mountains and parts of 
California, Oregon, and Washington resembles the eastern 
yellow pine, but is cut from a different species of tree. 
It, together with red fir, forms the common building 
material as well as the principal mining timber of these 
mountain states. 

Spruce is the common timber of the "white-pine state " 
of Maine, and of New England and eastern Canada. It 



156 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTEY 

is cut into a greater variety of sizes, odd lengths and odd 
widths not being uncommon. Though smaller and more 
knotty than pine, spruce also furnishes a common building 
material, and is used in large quantities and for almost 
everything from shingle to sill. 

Red fir, Oregon fir, and Oregon pine are three names 
for the same tree and the same kind of lumber. Red-fir 
lumber is cut in largest quantities in Oregon and Wash- 
ington, but considerable quantities are also manufactured 
in California and the Rocky Mountain countries. It 
resembles hard-pine lumber in appearance, quality, and 
uses, but since the trees of Oregon and Washington grow 
to very large sizes, two hundred feet or over in height 
and three to six feet in diameter, perfectly clear pieces of 
unusual size are obtained, and it is this great perfection 
of red fir which permits its export to distant countries, — 
Japan, China, Siberia, Australia, etc. 

Redivood is a product of California and is cut from 
large trees of the cedar family. It is a dark, brownish- 
red, soft, and light material of great durability and there- 
fore of an unusual range of usefulness. It is the common 
lumber of parts of California, and considerable quantities 
are exported, especially in the form of sawed shingles. 

Cypress is a tree of the southern swamps and has of 
late years become one of the important lumber trees of 
our country. Cypress is often logged with special machin- 
ery; it is cut mostly into boards, planks, and shingles. 



> n 



o 



r*- ^ 




157 



158 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTEY 

and has become a strong rival of white pine. Louisiana, 
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas all share in 
the manufacture of cypress. 

Hemlock is a much despised and very much underrated 
material, which, in spite of its bad name, is one of our 
most useful building materials. Though apt to be a little 
shaky and somewhat ^Drone to warp and sliver, hemlock 
is used everywhere in the East for studding, joists, and 
sheathing in frame houses, for sidewalks, fences, and boxes ; 
and of late years entire houses, shingles, laths, and all, have 
been built of this Cinderella among our conifers. 

A large proportion of pine and other coniferous lumber 
is manufactured into finished flooring, siding, ceiling, etc., 
by the planing mills which are to be found in connection 
with most of our larger modern sawmills. 

Hardwood lumber is usually cut into planks, one to 
three inches thick, or else into timber for particular pur- 
poses, such as bridge and car timber, wagon axles, etc. 
It is commonly sold in the rough, i.e., it is not planed 
and otherwise finished like pine . lumber, though of late 
maple, birch, oak, and yellow poplar are offered quite 
extensively in the forms of flooring, ceiling, siding, and 
other finished products. 

If we look about us to see where most of our lumber 
goes, and what it is used for, we find that the great mass 
of pine and other coniferous lumber is used in building 
houses of all kinds. The carpenter is greatly assisted in 




169 



IGO FIKST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

his work by having lumber of definite sizes and grades. 
Thus, in building an ordinary frame house with walls 
sixteen feet high, he need not shape the frame pieces, but 
orders sixteen-foot studding and thus saves a great deal 
of extra work. Moreover, the owner also saves a great 
deal of material by this arrangement, since the sixteen- 
foot pieces all fit, and but little of his lumber is cut into 
short, useless pieces. Formerly hardly any hardwood 
timber ever entered in the construction of an ordinary 
house, but of late years much hardwood is used as finish- 
ing lumber, i.e., for floor, ceiling, doors, etc. 

The carpenter's lumber should be light to handle, soft 
to nail and saw ; it should dry without much warping, and 
it should be safe against insects. On the other hand, 
most of it need not be pretty, since it is covered up ; and 
it need not be very strong or tough, since it is rarely 
heavily loaded or jarred. 

The desirable combination of qualities for house-build- 
ing material is found in most conifers, but in very few 
hardwoods, and our frame house will cease to be common 
wherever pine and other coniferous lumber becomes scarce. 

Most of our hardwood lumber is used for all kinds of 
furniture and implements. In a table or chair the pieces 
need not be long or broad, nor need they be light and 
soft. On the contrary, they must be firm and strong, 
quite tough, and, in addition, they should have a pleasing 
appearance. 



USE OF THE FOEEST 161 

In getting out logs for lumber it is usually better to 
fell the tree with the crosscut saw, cutting as near to the 
ground as possible. In the white-pine districts contracts 
commonly call for stumps eighteen inches or less in height, 
and there is no good reason why, in logging good oak, 
ash, etc., any man should make a three- or even four-foot 
stump, and thus waste at least ten per cent of the best 
part of the tree. These large stumps, moreover, become 
breeding places for insects and harbor fungi, and thus are 
a menace as well as a loss. 

In measuring and marking off the logs a great deal of 
waste may be avoided if the woodsman has clearly in 
mind what kind of goods he wants to make of his timber. 
For all small jobs it pays well either to do it oneself or 
else to engage an experienced man and give him clear 
instructions as to what should go into saw-logs, ties, 
poles, etc. 

The skidding is mostly done by dragging the log on 
the ground. Especially for hardwoods men use a ^^ go- 
devil," or simple sled, often made of a crotch or fork of 
two large limbs. Where this is done one end of the log 
is placed on the sled and thus prevented from striking 
against many obstacles. 

The work of loading and of hauling to the mill varies 
for different localities. In cold, snowy districts this is 
done most cheaply on sleighs ; in other localities, with 
wagons, which of course is far more expensive. 



162 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

In most localities farmers still sell their logs commonly 
'^ on the stmnp," i.e., in the woods. This is rarely a good 
plan, as the buyer's workmen care too little for the woods, 
damage trees in dragging, and cut too nmcli young growth 
that they may get as near as possible to the logs with 
sled or wagon. Selling at the mill is better. Some men 
have their logs cut on shares, and then haul and sell the 
lumber to the neighboring retail lumber yard. This is 
the right way, but unfortunately the retailer is too often 
disposed to take advantage of the farmer in grading 
and price, preferring generally to buy of the wholesale 
dealer rather than get his goods in small lots from his 
neighbors. 

This is avoided in some localities where farmers coop- 
erate and run a small mill of their own, using one or two 
threshing engines for power and "swapping work" as in 
threshing time. In this way a number of farmers cut 
each year a large amount of lumber, which, after season- 
ing in the pile one or even more years, is readily taken 
by some wholesale merchant at much better prices than 
can usually be secured from the retailer. In addition, 
this method always supplies the neighborhood with good 
seasoned material for home use. 

The regular lumbering in the remote, unsettled forests 
of our country is carried on, of course, on a much larger 
scale. In such work camps have to be built, comprising 
cook's shanty, men's quarters, barn, smithy, office, and 



USE OF THE F0KE8T 163 

often a large storehouse ; and provision is made to dine 
seventy-five and more men at one sitting. 

Much preparatory work must be done. Roads, dams, 
or railways iDust be built, and suj^plies hauled to the 
camp from distant railway stations. The logging itself, 
for instance, in white-pine woods proceeds then al^out as 
follows : Some of the men go in pairs, each pair with 
a crosscut saw, felling the trees and cutting them into 
logs. Another set skid the logs, i.e., drag them out of the 
woods to the roads, and with the universal '^ peavey " roll 
them up into piles on skidways. Still another set haul 
them to the neighboring stream, where a '^ landing " is 
cleared, on which the whole season's cutting is piled 
up. The hauling is done on sleighs, and on a road which 
has been carefully laid out so that there are no uphill 
pulls, and one which is kept clean during all the hauling 
and sprinkled with water or 'Meed" nearly every night. 
When the winter's work is over, and spriug opens the 
stream and fills it with water, the ''driving" begins. A 
set of men roll the logs into the water, and men go along 
the stream to keep them moving. The logs always catch 
on the banks, or on obstacles of some kind, and form 
''jams," which have to l^e broken and rebroken whenever 
formed. In smaller streams the ordinary flow of water 
is not sufficient, and the brook must be " splashed " or 
flooded, i.e., the dam built during the summer before is 
opened as often as a good head of water exists, or as often 



164 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

as is necessary, and thus, artificially, a flood is produced 
which carries the logs farther and farther. In good 
streams this is a cheap way to transport logs ; in small 
crooked streams it is not. 

The logging of spruce in Maine and other states is 
done very much in the same way. In the southern 
pineries logging is carried on by means of railways, the 
skidder dragging or hauling the logs directly to the railway. 
Here the work goes on all the time ; a log cut to-day is 
hauled to mill to-morrow, sawed next day, and passes at 
once into a dry kiln to prevent the boards from " bluing," 
or becoming dark. 

Cypress is mostly dragged out of the large miry swamps 
with huge wire-rope machinery ; and the monstrous logs of 
redwood and red fir of the Pacific coast are logged by 
means of heavy teams, — six to twelve yoke of oxen or 
teams of horses, — or else are dragged together and loaded 
on cars by means of donkey engines and wire cables. 

Estimating and measuring Timber 

When a man buys a lot of standing timber, or when a 
lumberman or farmer, prepares for the winter's logging, 
he wishes to know beforehand approximately how mucli 
timber he is likely to get from the tract of land he is about 
to cut over. In most districts of our country this is still 
done by estimating or counting the trees and guessing at 
their contents. 



USE OF THE FOREST 165 

On a small piece of woodland this work is quite simple, 
but when the estimating is to be done in some unsettled 
forest district, where the only landmarks consist of dim 
blaze lines made by surveyors years ago, separating only 
one section or square mile from another, it is necessary 
not only to estimate timber, but also to know where we 
are. Thus, a section has sixteen forty-acre lots, and four 
of these are interior '' forties " which have no marked 
boundaries. To know when he is on one of these forties 
and on what part he is estimating, the man uses the same 
methods which the mariner employs on the high sea ; he 
uses a compass so that he may always know where he is 
going, and he counts his paces to know how far he has 
gone, and for this reason these travelers of the woods are 
often called cruisers. 

Formerly only the log or saw timber was considered, 
but of late years the number of posts, ties, telegraph 
poles, even the amount of cord wood, is estimated. 

In estimating a large tree we guess its diameter and 
the number of logs which it will cut. Suppose we guess 
the tree to be twenty-four inches in diameter, breast high, 
or four feet from the ground, and to cut three logs, each 
sixteen feet long, and that we believe the bark to be about 
one inch and a half thick at the base ; also suppose that 
the tree tapers about one inch for every eight feet in 
length. Then the first log is about twenty-one inches in 
diameter at the butt, or base (without bark), and nineteen 



166 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

inches in diameter at the top end ; the second is seventeen 
inches at the top, and the third fifteen inches at the top. 
Looking in onr table (Appendix I), we find that by the 
Doyle rule these logs contain, 

The first one . 225 feet B.M. 

The second one 169 feet B.M. 

The third one 121 feet B.M. 

Total, 515 feet B.M. 

which means that five hundred and fifteen feet B.M. of 
boards may be cut from the logs of this tree, provided 
the logs are straight and sound. Usually this is not quite 
the case, and ten to thirty per cent, according to the 
quality of timber, must be deducted for '' defects." 

After some practice in a forest the estimator or cruiser 
commonly decides that the trees generally cut one and a 
half, two, or three logs per tree, and also that it takes 
about eight, twelve, or twenty of these logs to make a 
thousand feet B.M. 

Thus, in ordinary eastern spruce, the trees cut about 
three logs per tree and it takes about fifteen to twenty 
logs to make a thousand feet B.M., so that the estimator 
finally decides that about five trees make a thousand feet 
B.M. After this he merely counts the trees and divides 
by five, to find how many thousand feet B.M. he has esti- 
mated. In old white pine he would find that it takes 
about two trees to make a thousand feet B.M. (write M 
feet B.M.), and in large red fir and redwoods one tree often 
would make five to ten M feet B.M., and even more. 



USE OF THE FOKEST 



167 



B 



\ 




i 




•13 


•12 ; 


•5 


•4 


•14 


•II 


•6 


•3 


•15 


•10 


•7 


•2 


.16 


•9 


•8 


•I 




T 




t 10 . 


Lff^wo 



D 



In such estimates poles are merely coimted ; the umiiber 
of ties follows from the number of trees, i.e., the estimator 
decides that the trees which would naturally be cut for 
ties generally cut three, four, etc., ties \ while figures for 
cord wood and posts are 
usually mere guesswork, 
which have value only 
when they come from a 
very experienced man. 

Where a large piece, say 
a forty-acre tract, is to be 
estimated, and the timber 
is at all valuable, it is best 
to work in an orderly way. 
We find the corner A and 
go along the line AB ten 
rods ; then we go north ten 
rods to station No. 1. Here 
we put down our staff so 
that we keep the right sjDot, for there are no fences or other 
convenient landmarks to guide us, and then we begin to 
count and estimate all the trees in the square of which 
this station is the center. If we go four times through 
the forty-acre tract, this square contains \% = ^\ acres. 
All we learn about this square of two and a half acres 
we put down on a separate page of our notebook, so that 
when we have finished the square, or this station No. 1^ 



20 



20 



20 20 Ro 



h 



Fig. 61. Diagram to show how a 
Forty-Acre Lot is covered in 
estimating Timber. (Nos. 1-16 
are the stations) 



168 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

we need not remember anything more about it. Then Ave 
go to station No. 2, which is twenty rods from No. 1, and 
so on, until the ''forty" is done. To have our note- 
books orderly we should have them lined and arranged 
somewhat like the sample on the opposite page. 

Whether the diameters are estimated or measured, it is 
better to go hj even inches, as is shown in the scheme, 
but it is not necessary to measure by one inch, unless 
the number of trees is very small. 

When the "forty " is finished we add up and put on the 
same kind of sheet all the totals. Then we can calculate 
the amount of wood very much closer than is ordinarily 
done. First we find the amount of saw timber in the logs 
in the way explained before. Then we calculate the real 
volume of the wood in the following way : 

Suppose the twenty-four-inch trees are generally about 
ninety feet high (estimated or measured) and that they 
cut three logs each, so that they cut about five hundred 
feet B.M., as in our example. Then w^e look up the area 
of cross section of the tree in the table (Appendix II) 
and find that a tree twenty-four inches in diameter has 
an area of 3.14 square feet. If the tree were simply a 
cylinder of wood, we would need only to multiply this 
number of 3.14 with the height of the tree to find the 
volume in cubic feet. But the trunk of the tree tapers, 
and tapers irregularly, so that not even the contents of the 
trunk can thus be calculated. In working up many trees 



USE OF THE EOKEST 



1G9 



ARRANGEMENT OF NOTEBOOK IN ESTIMATING 
AND MEASURING TIMBER 



Forty No. 5. 



Station No. 8. 





Diameter 

(INCHES) 


Oak 


Chestnut 


Tulip 
Poplar 


Maple 




12 


// 










14 


/Th^ 








Number 
OF Trees 


16 


// 


/// 






18 


//// 










20 


// 


/ 


// 






22 












24 




/// 






Total 




15 


7 


2 






12 


// 








Number of 


14 


/// 








16 FT. LOGS 


16 


M^ 


Tfu/n 






CORRESPOND- 


18 


/MW/// 








ING TO THE 
ABOVE TREES 


20 


rm/ 


/// 


TfU/ 




22 












24 




tfUWl/ 






Number of 
Logs 




28 


22 


6 




Small Trees 

6-11 IN. DIAM, 


18 


15 


23 


11 


Young 
Growth 


Considerable young red oak l-() ft. high ; little chestnut and 
maple, but no poplar 


Surface 
Cover 


Considerable shrubbery, hazel, etc. ; about one third area is 
covered with grass and weeds 


Surface 


Moderate slope to north ; fairly smooth, no bowlders 


Soil 


Fine, gray, sandy, deep 


Drainage 


Perfect 


Notes 


Easy logging. Stand too open ; need of more trees ; well suited 
to hardwoods and conifers ; justilies cleaning and filling in by 
sowing or planting 



170 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

it has been found as a matter of experience and measure- 
ment that the volume of the trunk of the tree is about 
one half as much as the volume of the cylinder just men- 
tioned. Usually this ratio between the cylindei' and the 
real volume of the tree varies from about 0.45 to 0.60 
according to the kind of tree, and naturally is larger 
if the entire tree, limbs and all, is taken than if only the 
volume of the stem is to be calculated. This figure, or 
ratio, is called the factor of shape and is very useful in tree 
measurement. 

Since the factor of shape is equal to the volume of the 
tree divided by that of the cylinder, or since 

J. _ volume of tree 

volume of cylinder 
we can say : 

factor X volume of cylinder = volume of tree ; 
or, volume = area x height x factor of shape. 

In our case, then, 

3.14 X 90 X .00= 169.5 cubic feet. 

This includes the logs as w^ell as limbs, and means that 
if the entire tree were cut into cord wood, it would make 
one hundred and sixty-nine cubic feet, solid wood ; or, 
since about ninety cubic feet solid make one cord of wood 
in the pile (air and wood), each twenty-four-inch tree 
would make 1.88 cords. Allowing two cords of wood to 
each thousand feet B.M. of logs, we deduct one cord for 



USE OF THE FOREST 



171 



the logs and find that these trees furnish each about 0.88 
of a cord of firewood. When trees are very branchy, as 
in our old hardwood forests, the number of logs is usually 




Fig. 62. Calipers for nieasiir- 
inu' the Diameter of Trees 





Fig. 63. Measuring the Height of a Tree 

small, and the amount of firewood commonly more than 
half of all the timber. In pine, spruce, etc., the reverse 
is true ; here the logs often make over seventy-five per 
cent of all the wood in the tree. 



172 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Since estimating is always guesswork and liable to 
much error, it is far better to make definite measurements 
wherever we can. This is always possible in the case of 
the diameter, and usually of the height. In doing this 
two men go ahead with calipers (see Fig. 62) to measure 
the diameter and also estimate the number of logs, and 
one man walks behind them and keeps tally. The meas- 
uring is done breast high, and each tree is marked with a 
gauge or chalk to show that it has been measured. 

During the work each man calls out, as, for instance, 
" White oak, twenty-four, two," meaning that this tree of 
white oak is twenty-four inches in diameter and will cut 
two logs. The heights are measured as shown in the 
figure, with a homemade triangle or else with a special 
device, the Faustman '' Heightmeasure." 

In measuring or '' scaling " a log, it is customary, in 
our country, not to measure its real volume, but to state 
how many feet B.M. of lumber might be cut from this log. 
Since the saw wastes a great deal of wood, cutting it into 
dust, and since the slabs also are largely waste, only 
fifty to seventy per cent of the total volume of the log 
can be obtained as boards. 

A stick on which are marked the number of feet B.M. 
for each diameter and the ordinary lengths is called a 
scale rule. Of tliese rides the Doyle rule is by far the 
most common and is quite a fair rule, except for logs 
smaller than sixteen inches diameter. If a rule is not at 



USE OF THE FOEEST 



173 



hand, we can readily make one, for in Doyle's rule the 
contents of a log sixteen feet long are equal to the square 
of the diameter reduced hy four. Thus, a log twenty-four 
inches in diameter has (24 - if = 20 x 20, or 400, feet B.M. 
if it is sixteen feet long. If it is only twelve feet 
long, the contents are 400 x f| = 300 feet B.M. 

The measurement is always made 
at the smaller or top end, and if the 
log is crooked, partly decayed, or 
excessively knotty, an arbitrary deduc- 
tion is made. Where valuable timber 
is bought or sold these methods are 
improved in various ways to obtain 
more exact results. 

Ta?i Bark. — In many of the oak 
forests of the Allegheny region, and 
in the hemlock woods of Wisconsin 
and Michigan, many men are engaged 
in peeling tan bark. 

This is done in summer, May to 
July, while the bark readily lets go of Fig. 64. Scale Rules 

the wood. In peeling l)ark the tree Only the lower end of each 
p,,-, ,,, -111 c stick is shown 

IS lelled, and then girdled every tour 
feet clear up to the crown. Then these four-foot cylinders 
of bark are cut lengtliwise along two or more lines, and 
the pieces peeled oft' with a special peeling iron. They 
are then set up, rough side out, against the log to dry. 




174 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

When dry they are carefully stacked in cord piles, and 
later on hauled out when convenient. Care is taken to 
do the work during dry sunny days, since bark molds 
very easily and is thereby spoiled. 

Being bulky, bark does not pay for long-distance ship- 
ping, and tanners prefer to move their tannery to the woods 
and ship the hides, rather than to move the bark over great 
distances. In times of business depression farmers have 
been driven to peel bark without being able to use the 
logs, so that much timber has been wasted in this way. 
This should be, and usually can be, avoided by the use of 
portable mills ; for even if the lumber cannot at once be 
used, oak and hemlock bear storing for a long time. 

Resin and Turpentine Industry 

In the large forests of longleaf pine covering the level, 
sandy coast plain of the South, the production of turpen- 
tine and resin, the " naval stores " industry, is one of the 
principal occupations. The process is as follows : 

One or two deep pockethke notches are cut into each 
tree to receive the crude resin as it oozes out of the 
wound. Since the resin hardens in a short time and 
stops up the wound, this latter must be renewed about 
once every week all through the '' bleeding" season, from 
spring to fall, as shown in Fig. 65, a, where a man is about 
to cut a thin strip, or " streak," with his " hacker." Once 



o 



S - 




176 



176 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTKY 

a month the men '' dip " the '' crude," and this is hauled 
to a distillery, a ^'turpentine still," where the ^' crude " 
is boiled with a little water. By this means the spirits 
of turpentine, or '' spirits," go off as a vapor and are 
cooled in a coiled tube, the '' worm," which is kept cool 
by flowing water. As soon as the " spirits " are distilled 
the remaining mass, the rosin, is run out like molten 
metal through a sieve into a trough, whence it is ladled 
into barrels. This soon hardens on cooling, so that the 
barrels need not be very tight. 

Some distillers get all their "crude" from fp^rmers; 
others have special crews in the woods to tap for them. 
Ordinarily a tree is tapped only four years, but in many 
of the settled districts of North Carolina trees have been 
'^ bled " for more than twenty years. 

One man tends, " chips," or " streaks," about five thou- 
sand trees. His trees form a " crop," and are supposed 
to have ten thousand notches or " boxes." Such a crop 
yields during the four years of "bleeding" about fifty- 
four hundred gallons of turpentine and six hundred and 
eighty barrels (two hundred and forty pounds each) of rosin. 
The yield is greatest the first year, the four years com- 
paring in this respect as 7 to 6 to 4 to 1. 

When the lumberman follows the turpentine man, and 
uses up the timber as soon as the tapping is finished, this 
industry is entirely proper ; but wher6 the trees cannot 
be utilized afterwards it is too wasteful. The output of 



USE OF THE FOREST 177 

this industry in 1892 was about three hundred and fifty 
thousand casks of turpentine and about two and a haK 
million barrels of rosin. 

The ordinary tar, formerly manufactured in large quan- 
tities, especially in North Carolina, and much used on ships, 
was not made in the manner described, but in special char- 
coal pits, and was thus a product of dry distillation, akin 
to the tar produced in retorts. 

Seeds and Mast 

In nearly all of our eastern hardwood forests the nuts of 
chestnut, hickory, including the pecan, walnut, and butter- 
nut, and to some extent the beechnuts, are gathered and form 
one of the common dainties of winter-evening gatherings. 

Nearly all of our large oak forests are used to pasture 
thousands of hogs, which fatten whenever the '•' mast,'' or 
crop of acorns, is good. 

Aside from these simple and ancient uses, the seeds of 
our trees are generally allowed to go to waste ; but as 
there arises a market for many of our tree seeds, it will 
prove profitable to gather them. This is so now in most 
parts of Europe, where the value of the seed from a small 
piece of woods is often far greater than that of the wood, 
and where, whenever a seed year occurs, hundreds of 
people make it a business to collect such seeds as pine, 
spruce, and balsam. 



178 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Pasturage 

Pasturing in the forests is almost universal in all settled 
portions of our country, and even many of the remote 
districts, like those of the Rockies, Cascades, and Sierra 
Nevadas, furnish summer feed to several millions of sheep 
and cattle. In the forest of the longleaf pine in the 
South the cattle feed on rough pine-grass, which is 
renewed and also protected against a cover of pine needles 
by being burned over from time to time. 

Though the cattle and sheep do not eat the pine, they 
trample down seedlings, and thus hinder the starting of 
young growth. This, however, is made up in part by 
the good they do in breaking the cover of dead leaves, 
etc., and thus making it possible for the seed of the pine 
to find the ground. On the other hand, fires set for their 
benefit do damage in killing seedlings and young trees, 
and scorching the '' feet " of the old. 

In our hardwoods tlie cattle and sheep live as much by 
browsing off the leaves and fresh shoots of young trees 
as by feeding on grass, and, therefore, pasturing in these 
woods always hinders the starting of young growth and 
leads to a crippling of many of those saplings which 
continue to live in spite of injury. For this reason it 
is generally a bad plan to pasture cattle in the woods. 
Where, however, this appears still advisable or necessary 
the work in the woods should be so regulated that the 



USE OF THE FOREST 179 

cattle can be kept off from the parts where a new growth 
is to be started, until the young trees are over ten feet in 
height. With cattle this is easily and cheaply done by a 
two-strand fence of barb wire, which can be used over 
and over again ; with sheep this does no good, and they 
should be herded. 

In the dry portions of our western mountain ranges the 
sheep find a summer range which is considered quite 
indispensable to the sheep industry of many districts. 
Since the forests are stocked with conifers, which the 
sheep do not eat, it is chiefly their trampling which does 
any damage. In these mountains most of the herding is 
done on the high ridges wdiere timber does not grow very 
well, if at all, and also in the numerous "burns," where 
repeated fires have killed and consumed everything. 
These burns are without seed trees and therefore restock 
very slowly, commonly remaining open grazing grounds 
for years. 

Where forest growth is very difficult to start, and 
where, as is usually the case in these mountain countries, 
it is very necessary to avoid serious erosion from the 
irregular flow of the streams, pasturage should be regu- 
lated or abandoned altogether. 



180 FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

Game and Fish 

In the Adirondack Mountains the game and fish, as 
much as the beauty of forest and lake, have brought to 
these mountains milhons of dollars, and helped to create 
a sentiment worth many millions more. Streams and 
lakes well stocked with fish, and a few dozen of deer to 
every thousand acres of forest, are capable of producing 
considerable income through the pleasure which they give 
by their beauty and the possible chase, without interfering 
in the least with the real objects of the forest. 

In hardwood forests, like those of the Alleghenies, at 
least twenty-five deer should find their living on every 
thousand acres of land ; but in all cases the number 
should be regulated, and old does as Avell as old bucks 
should be removed. 

Pine and spruce forests naturally offer very much less 
feed ; and, therefore, if game is to be kept, more or less 
hardwood should be mixed in with the conifers. Patches 
of coppice growth, especially of poplars, cottonwood, aspen, 
etc., also willows, mountain ash, maple, oak, and beech, ' 
furnish large quantities of fodder and are well suited to 
help the animals in severe winters, when the poorer trees 
may be thinned out merely to feed the game. 

But; above all, the animals must be protected against 
the dog and gun. Of these the former is by far the more 
harmful, and in anv district where stray doQ:s, these 



C5 



B 




181 



18:^ FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

protected wolves of our forest, are free to chase the game 
day and night, as, for instance, in many parts of the South 
and West, it is impossible for deer to maintain themselves. 



THE BUSINESS OF THE FOREST 

When a farmer carries on forestry on his thirty-acre 
piece of woodland he looks after it himself, plans and 
conducts the cutting, planting, and thinning, sells the 
wood, and thus performs all parts of this business, just as 
he does his farming. He may hire some men, he may 
even keep a book to see just how much his piece of wood- 
land is bringing in, but it is a very simple kind of record. 
In the same way his plans are perfectly simple. He may 
manage it all as a piece of selection woods, cutting over 
a three-acre piece each year, using the same road to haul 
out his wood, or he may treat it as a coppice ; but, in any 
case, he needs no map or book to see where the oldest 
timber is located, and what parts are in need of thinning. 
Half an hour's walk wilFshow all this, and a few hours' 
time will suffice to mark out all the trees he wishes to 
take out the coming winter. 

Suppose, however, he has two thousand acres of woods 
in four pieces, thirty miles from, his home ; then the case 
is quite different. It would take a month's faithful walk- 
ing to examine this amount of land as a good forest 
should be examined. Moreover, he needs to note down 



THE BUSINESS OF THE FOREST 183 

at every step what he sees, or else he would forget it 
before he could reach home. But of what use is it to note 
down what he sees on a particular spot, unless he knows 
where that spot is and can send a man there, if he wants 
to do so ? This means, then, that he should survey it 
first and establish some marks in the woods. Then he 
examines and estimates or measures the timber and 
describes his land. But after he has a map and descrip- 
tion, to have it orderly he must keep it in some kind of 
book, arranged in some definite order. Here the book- 
keeping begins, for this survey and this examination cost 
some money, which he must charge against his forest. 
Then he wants to manage this forest. 

We will suppose he decides to treat it as a selection 
forest, and suppose also that he can sell the wood and 
timber, and wishes to use his forest to furnish work for 
teams and outfit, and also for his men, whether tenants 
or neighbors. In this case he will wish to do some log- 
ging, perhaps, every winter ; and he will need, about every 
ten years, to return to each part of his woods to make 
sure that it is properly cleaned and thinned. He would 
have to log over about two hundred acres a year, and this 
would be a considerable business in itself. To do this he 
would need a foreman, better a forester, and a small crew 
of men, and considerable bookkeeping would be necessary 
to keep his accounts in proper order. But to handle a 
foreman and crew means administration; to survey, 



184 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

subdivide, map, and measure his land and timber, to plan 
where, what, and how much to cut and plant, to improve 
by roads, ditches, and otherwise, — all these mean to 
regulate his forest. We have here, then, a simple form 
of forest adyyiinistration and regulation. 

When this forest grows to twenty-five thousand acres, 
in perhaps thirty pieces, the owner needs several perma- 
nent foresters who know what to do and how to do it. 
Each of these men takes a portion of this land and car- 
ries on the business, making reports at regular times to 
the owner, or his office, so that the owner, like a store- 
keeper, knows every day about how his forest business 
stands. Thus, forest administration and regulation, up to 
certain limits, grow in complexity as the forest grows 
larger and more diversified, and both are necessary for 
order and good business. 

SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 

So far we have been considering forests in general, but 
there are a few important cases which deserve special 
attention. 

The Wood Lot 

The farmer's small forest of twenty to forty acres is 
often entirely neglected, as a thing neither forest nor 
field and hardly worth paying any attention to. And 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FOKESTS 



185 



yet it is in this form that a very large and a very impor- 
tant part of our forest wealth exists, and here is where 




Fiii. (57. Tapping the Sugar Maple 
(After W. F. Fox) 

the best kind of forestry is frequently met with, and 
where the most careful attention and the greatest outlay 



186 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

of labor always pays and pays handsomely. The ordi- 
nary wood lot m the eastern or forested portion of our 
country is usually a remnant of the old forest; it is 
on forest ground and commonly on rather good land, 
when considered from the woodsman's standpoint, so that 
quite a variety of timber may be grown here. Let us 
consider what might be done with such a wood lot in 
our eastern districts. 

First, we will see what kinds of trees the woods contain 
and what condition they are in. In most cases we find a 
considerable number of old, long-overripe trees of maple, 
elm, oak, especially red oak, and others. Some of these 
clearly show their bad condition by large knot holes, 
numerous dead hmbs, and other signs of degeneration. 
They are growing neither in value nor in wood and had 
better be removed ; but there is no need of haste, — any 
time during the next ten to twenty years is soon enough; 
for there is no immediate danger of great loss. 

Besides the old, overripe trees there are a number of 
younger trees with broad, spreading crowns, also trees 
like blue beech and dogwood, which are not wanted. 
We see that considerable change is needed here, merely 
in respect to the kinds of trees to be raised. In most 
cases we should wish to reduce the elm, basswood, poplar, 
and others, and give preference to oak. Moreover, we 
would rather raise white oak than red or black oak, 
because the former is durable and, therefore, useful even 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 



187 



as a small tree, when it can be sold at good prices for 
railway ties and piling. The same is true of chestnut. 
In addition, it would be better in most cases to introduce 




Fig. 68. Old-Fashioned Way of boiling Maple Sap 
(After W. F. Fox) 

considerable pine or spruce, since much coniferous lumber 
is used everywhere. To prevent the groves of oak from 
becoming too open and grassy, it would be well to mix 
in some Ijeech and maple wherever this trouble appears. 



188 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

The trees may be mixed all through the piece, or else the 
oaks, the ashes and elms, hickories and walnuts may be 
raised in small clumps or groves of one half to two acres 
in size, surrounded by the mixed woods. 

A general maxim in the choice of the trees to be 
raised would be : '^ Raise only those kinds of trees which 
thrive and grow well in our locality, and among these 
select the kinds which furnish the most valuable material, 
and especially those the wood of which is valuable at an 
early age or in smaller sizes." Of course it is not neces- 
sary and would not even be profitable to change the entire 
thirtv acres of woods in one vear ; but it is well to make 
up our minds as to what we should do with the woods, 
and improve them from year to year, restocking the 
ground with the kinds we want as we use up the old 
and thin out the inferior trees. 

In most woods we would also find much dead material 
still on the stump or on the ground, also thickets of 
young stuff in which good and bad trees alike are trying 
to hold the ground. These cases, as well as the main- 
tenance of a close border and the restocking of all bare 
places, should in all such woods receive prompt attention, 
for dead material in a forest is always a source of mis- 
chief. A lot of scrubby blue beech is apt to crowd out 
the finest saplings of oak, and a bare place in the woods 
is fallow land, bringing no rental, but serving as a 
starting point of brambles and other forest weeds. 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 189 

As to the best way of managing the woods, the farmer 
forester has the widest choice. With him any method, if 
at all applicable to the kinds of trees he wishes to raise, 
will bring good results. Generally the common selection 
method will prove most satisfactory, since, as we have 
learned, it is well suited to all the different kinds of trees, 
to all climates and soils, and incurs less danger of injury 
by wind and insects. 

On an ordinary thirty-acre tract about three acres 
may be gone over each year, cleaned and weeded of use- 
less stuff, the denser thickets thinned, perhaps a few of 
the oldest trees cut out, and all open spots restocked. 
At first this will best be done by sowing and planting, 
for if we wish to increase the proportion of white oak 
and introduce pine and spruce, the only safe way is to 
sow or plant in the manner before described. A small 
basket of white-oak acorns, chestnuts, and beechnuts 
sown in the fall, and a few hundred plants of white pine 
raised from a few ounces of seed in a small flower bed 
in the garden and set out in the spring, will soon pro- 
duce a complete change in the complexion of this forest. 
In many localities a few acres of good '-sugar bush" 
may prove desirable, though frequently this is better 
attained by trees along roads and fences and in open 
groves about the farm premises. The same is true of 
nut trees, of which a goodly number of the choicer kinds 
should be grown on every farm. It is just as easy in 



190 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

most places to grow a good walnut or a good hickory as 
it is to grow pignut, elm, or ash ; and in warmer districts 
a grove of fine-grade chestnuts or select pecans may often 
bring in considerable money by the fruit alone. 

In suitable localities a part of the forest may well be 
managed as coppice, and this same method is a very good 
means of starting a new forest on old, worn-out plowland 
and on pasture, for it is very easy to pass from a coppice 
to a standard coppice, and from this to regular selection 
woods. . 

The use of the wood lot as pasture land is ordinarily a 
mistake ; for if the forest is well stocked with trees, the 
grasses have no chance, and there is nothing for the cattle, 
sheep, etc., to do but to browse and gnaw bark. In a 
small tract of hardwood forest the grazing will almost 
always reduce the capacity of the woods to half and less, 
so that only half as much wood is produced, and it is not 
uncommon to see these over-pastured wood lots change 
into mere ^'cripples," or stands of dwarfed and deformed 
trees, which rarely grow into anything better than cheap 
firewood. When the wood lot must be pastured, the 
directions concerning pasturage mentioned before should 
be followed. In using their woodland farmers accom- 
plish much by a little organization and cooperation. In 
some localities, where formerly the logs were rolled up 
and burned, and the lumber used on the farm was bought 
at the lumber yard ten or fifteen miles away, the farmers 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 191 

now use portable sawmills, just as they use threshing 
machines, thus cutting not only the lumber and timber 
for home use, but sawing timber for railways, wagon 
makers, furniture makers, and other consumers. 

In cases where the lumber and timber is not sold 
beforehand it should be piled and covered in the best 
possible way, for it is usually through careless handling 
that the lumber of small mills becomes less acceptable 
and has to be sold at lower prices. 

An illustration of what may be done by careful, systematic 
management is shown in the following particularly inter- 
esting case of timber exploitation, in no feature imaginary 
or theoretical, but actually carried out a few years ago. 

Forty-three acres of well-stocked rough timber land in 
eastern Pennsylvania were bought for $5800, together 
with forty-eight acres of improved farm land, for which 
$2500 additional was paid. A portable second-hand mill 
was purchased for $1000; mill shed and shanties were 
erected, and this outlay, together with all the wages 
(nearly $4000) and cost of hauling, railway and canal 
freights (little over $4000), brought up the total outlay, 
land included, to $18,855. As the mill was at once set 
in operation, some income was derived from the first, thus 
obviating the necessity of considering the interest on the 
several expense accounts. 

The following represents the cut from these forty-three 
acres made in just two years, with only the partial 



192 FIRST BOOK OF FOEESTKY 

personal attention of the owner, and without the employ- 
ment of a special suiDerintendent : 

AMOUNT AND VALUE OF ARTICLES AND LUMBER SOLD 

Miscellaneous : Sold for 

111 tons of oak bark $1,224 

801 cords of firewood 2,640 

196 telegraph poles 500 

16,800 hickory spokes 388 

66,000 feet slabs (running measure), used largely in mines . 333 

For custom sawing 130 

Sawdust 7 

Total, $5,222 
Lumber (board measure) : 

Hickory butts (bought by paper mill for cogs), feet 9,680 
Birch, sycamore, and second-cut hickory (sold to toy 

concern) feet 11,822 

Ash " 957 

Walnut " 3,414 

Yellow poplar " 12,941 

Gum " 1,386 

Maple " 1,042 

Chestnut " 34,719 

Oak " 162,552 

Total, 238,513 6,522 

Railroad ties number 9,345 5,282 

Switch timber feet, linear measure 6,217 821 

Other materials 654 

Total, 18,501 
Place and mill were then sold, the former at $4623, the latter at 

$1000, making a total of 24,124 

Against an expense of 18,855 

Leaving a profit of $5,269 



SPECIAL KmDS or FORESTS 193 

Here was a tract of forty-three acres of timber with a 
yield of less than sixteen thousand feet B.M. per acre, as 
ordinarily estimated, a stumpage of about five dollars 
per thousand feet, and a profit of over one hundred dol- 
lars per acre. Though it is not possible to repeat this 
everywhere, it goes far to explain why good hardwood 
timber in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey sells at 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre 
when farm land does not bring one half as much, while 
only thirty years ago the case was exactly the reverse 
and the farms were rated by the amount of cleared land. 
It also shows how, at least in a large part of the eastern 
United States, woods may be exploited in a careful instead 
of wasteful manner, and how many a small holder, who 
can give the matter his personal attention and do much 
of the work at odd times, may make his wood lot a source 
of revenue. 

Waste Lands 

On every trip through the country, especially in all 
hilly districts or in walks about any of our smaller towns 
and villages, one notices pieces of land from a few rods to 
several, often many, acres in extent which have practically 
gone to waste. Some of these pieces are rich spots along 
our streams, perhaps a little wet or subject to overflow ; 
others are dry, often stony, hillsides, where the removal of 
the woods, the decay of the roots, and subsequent plowing 



194 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

deprived the soil of a hold and allowed the rain water to 
carry it away, leaving the surface a mass of gravel and 
stones. Generally these places are used as pastures, but 
their grazing value is very slight, and where this grazing 
value becomes less than one dollar per acre each year it 
is in most cases better to convert such waste land into 
woods ; for, as we have seen, a soil which is quite poor 
for agriculture may still be very good for trees. Most of 
these hillsides or bluffs at one time carried a good growth 
of trees, and it is not uncommon for such lands to change 
without help from bare pasture lands into Inrush lands 
and, if left alone, gradually to revert to regular forest. 
Usually this process is too slow ; lack of seed trees and 
repeated fires keep these wastes in their bad condition, 
and it is far better, therefore, to restock these places by 
sowing or planting. In the New England States some 
waste places have been restocked by white-pine seed in 
spots five or six feet apart, and the same may be 
accomplished at small cost and with good success by 
sowing acorns, chestnuts, and seed of locust, maple, 
and elm. 

Where the ground is rocky and poor, and the success of 
sowing rather doubtful, especially in the case of pine and 
other conifers, it is much better to plant young trees one 
or two years old. When a mixture of oak. chestnut, 
locust, elm, and maple is used the woods may at first be 
treated as coppice. Later on it may )je changed to a 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 195 

standard coppice, and from this to an ordinary selection 
wood, which will, in the end, prove the best for such 
lands. 

On wet overflow land willow produces fine crops of 
long sprouts for basket weaving. Poplar, ash, elm, syca- 
more, and, in the Southern States, sweet gum, water oak, 
and other valuable trees thrive in similar situations. 

What such reforestation can do for a piece of land, even 
in our country, is best illustrated by some of the worn- 
out pastures in our New England States, where land which 
produced no income at all has been converted into forests 
cutting over thirty thousand feet B.M. of shook boards 
at the age of sixty years and less ; or, in other words, a 
forest capable of producing yearly a net income of three 
dollars and more per acre. 

Forest Plantations on Prairies 

As with so many other good things, the forest is never 
so keenly missed as in the vast treeless regions of the 
West. Generally the land is fertile, but lack of moisture 
has helped the grasses to monopolize the land. In all the 
states east of the Rocky Mountains numerous forest plan- 
tations have been established. The majority contain only 
hardwoods, particularly maple, box elder, cottonwood, elm, 
ash, catalpa, walnut, and locust. Pine and other conifers 
have also been tried with success. 



196 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



The majority of failures in these plantations appear to 
be due to the fact that the plants dry out at the roots 
before they are established, probably in most cases before 




Fig. 69. Black Locust Plantation, Meade County, Kansas 

Trees twelve years old, six to eight inches diameter and twenty feet high 

(After Tourney) 

and during planting. Generally the plants are raised at 
distant nurseries and thus, necessarily, suffer during the 
long journey to the place where they are to be used. 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FOKESTS 



107 



Nevertheless, many thousands of acres of prairie in Iowa, 
Nebraska, Kansas, and other states have been converted 
into useful woods, supplying the much-needed shelter 
from wind, and, at the same time, producing fuel and con- 
struction material, fence posts, etc. 

How successful some of these plantations are is clearly 
seen from Figs. 69 and 70. In this latter case the catalpa 




Fk;. To. The Y:i<;gY Catalpa Plantation, in Reno County, Kansas, 

showing Posts cut when Trees w^ere nine Years Old 

The posts are four to six inches in diameter, and many of the trees made 
two posts. (After Tourney) 

trees were raised in a nursery on the farm, and set out, 
when one year old, in furrows six feet apart, at intervals 
of three and a half feet. When two years old the trees 
were cut oil and allowed to sprout. The following Avinter 
the tall sprouts were thinned, leaving only the best sprout 
on each stump. The land was cultivated for three years 



198 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

to keep down the grass, ))ut after this the shade of the 
trees sufficed for this purpose. When the trees were eight 
years old the largest ones were cut out for fence posts, 
most of them making two posts each. In two years' 
thinning, over fifteen thousand trees were taken from the 
eighty-acre tract. When the plantation was ten years 
old there had been raised on one acre about eighteen hun- 
dred trees, furnishing over thirteen hundred good posts, 
besides smaller posts or stakes and a lot of firewood, 
valued in all at about two hundred and sixty dollars. 

This plantation is located on good bottom land, bought 
at twenty-five dollars per acre, and of course presents an 
exceptionally thrifty growth. Nevertheless, it clearly 
shows what may be accomplished on the western prairies 
and how even forestry that requires the most painstaking 
care may be profitable in many parts of our country. 

Sand Dunes 

Passing through Michigan City, Ind., one can see 
from the car window low ridges of bare white sand 
stretching along the shore of Lake Michigan. These 
ridges or dunes are constantly moving, and a number of 
houses have been covered entirely, w^hile parts of others 
are seen sticking out of the sand. Similar dunes occupy 
long stretches of our Atlantic coast and the coasts of 
France, the Netherlands, and the countries about the 




IW 



200 



FIEST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 



Baltic. In some places they are simply a desert waste, and 
have comparatively little effect on the adjoining conn try ; 
but in other localities, like The Landes of France, bordering 
the Bay of Biscay, the sand dunes formed long, continuous 
ridges along the shore, and thus dammed up the water in 




Fig. 72. Sand Dune in Holland, alter lleclanuition 
(After Gifford) 

the streams and converted wliat, at one time, was a forest 
into a pestilential, marshy waste. 

On the whole, these dunes occupy large areas ; those of 
Europe alone have been estimated to cover over twenty 
thousand square miles ; and since the wind easily drifts the 
sand farther and farther inland, it is difficult to say how 
much land might eventually be laid waste by these moving 



SPECIAL KINDS OF FORESTS 201 

dunes. For over a century the people of France, the 
Netherlands, and other countries have fought these sands, 
and some excellent results have been attained. 

The methods employed by all are similar. First of all 
a close board or brush fence is erected. This is situated 
about three hundred to six hundred feet from high-water 
mark, and runs parallel to the coast line. Usually a 
parallel fence is built about forty feet from the first. The 
sand, whether bloAvn from the ocean or from the land side, 
is caught by these fences, which thus cause the formation 
of a new dune. As the sand gets deeper and deeper the 
fences are raised higher, until, in the course of several 
years, this new shore or littoral dune is about thirty feet 
high. When once of this height the new dune keeps the 
sand from travehng farther inland, and the sandy stretches 
in its rear, or on the land side, have a chance to become 
quiet. Then the new shore dune is covered with sand 
grasses, mostly the sea marram or matweed, which thrive 
on these mobile sands, and the land behind it is planted 
or sowed to pine, both plants and seed being protected 
by brush evenly covered over the entire tract. 

The pine woods are usually treated by the selection 
method, so that no large bare spots are ever produced. 
The chief danger, fire, is guarded against by a number 
of fire lanes and by careful watching. 

The shore dune requires continual close watching, and 
must be kept covered with sand grass to prevent renewed 



202 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

attack on the reclaimed lands, and its care, therefore, 
forms an important part of the forestry service. 

Though very expensive, this kind of work in The 
Landes alone has converted more than a million acres of 
worthless marsh into valuable productive forests, and 
has changed this large area from an unsightly, pestilential 
region into a health and pleasure resort. 



Part III 

BELATED TOPICS 

THE FOREST AS A PROTECTIVE COVER 

Besides supplying one of the most necessary materials, 
wood, and besides rendering productive large areas of 
otherwise useless land, the forest in most places has still 
another function, namely, that of protection. 

The forest protects the soil against washing away, or 
erosion, and it protects both the soil and the air in the 
forest against the wind and sun, and thereby keeps them 
cooler and moister. 

A simple experiment illustrates this influence very well : 
Take a common wooden table and prop up one side so 
that it is about six inches higher than the other side ; let 
this table top represent a gently sloping hillside. If now 
we pour water on this table top with a sprinkler, and 
thereby imitate rain, we see that the water at once runs 
off faster or slower, according as the table, our hillside, 
slants more or less. 

This is exactly what happens on our sidehill or moun- 
tain wherever its rocky body is Ijare of any soil or cover. 

203 



204 FIRST BOOK OF FOFvESTRY 

If we cover the table with a four-inch layer of garden 
earth, and repeat our sprinkling, care being taken not to 
sprinkle too hard, we observe a very interesting and 
important fact. 

There is at first hardly any water on top of the soil — 
it soaks in ; but after a time there arise little rivulets on 
top, and by gathering they grow larger and we have 
exactly what we see in our settled plowed districts, — an 
ordinary surface run-off. But, in addition, w^e note after 
a little time that there is also a run-off along the face 
of the table just as before, except that the water runs 
slowly ; it has to seep along. This is our underground 
drainage, such as occurs everywhere, and it is this under- 
ground w^ater which feeds our springs, streams, and lakes 
when there is no rain ; and it is underground water that 
we reach in digging our wells. Thus, when the rain falls 
on a bare rocky area some of the water evaporates, most 
of it runs oft: as fast as it falls, and when the rain is over 
the rocky surface is dry. On the earth or soil-covered 
area, on the other hand, part of the rain water runs oft' at 
the surface, but much of it soaks into the ground and 
stays there until there is enough to form slow under- 
ground streams. Thus, the soil acts as a water storage 
for plant and stream. If we stop sprinkling, the surface 
run-oft' soon stops, but the underground drain keeps on 
moving for many houi's. This is what happens all over 
the land. 



1—1 

c 
-1 






O 

c' 




205 



206 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

If now we sprinkle again, but very liard this time, we 
see that the water washes out gullies and carries away 
the soil, just as we all have seen soil carried from plow- 
land, and just as many thousands of acres of plowland 
in Mississippi and other states have been gullied and 
ruined by water. Let us now cover part of the layer of 
earth on our table by a one-inch cover of moist cotton 
batting. Repeating the sprinkling, we find that this 
cover of cotton does two distinct things : it protects the 
soil and keeps the water from carrying it away ; in addi- 
tion, it keeps the soil moist for hours after we cease 
sprinkling. This is exactly what the forest does : the 
torrential rain finds a canopy of twigs and leaves to 
break its force, and when the water reaches the ground 
it finds a layer of leaves which prevents it from carrying 
away the soil. In addition, a network of numberless 
roots holds this earth for a considerable depth, and the 
many dead roots of former trees have softened the soil 
and made it more penetrable ; thus, the water soaks in 
instead of running off. 

That grass and other herbaceous vegetation cannot 
well replace the forest in this respect is clearly shown 
by the fact that the Missouri River and its tributaries, 
which come from prairies, are nuiddy torrents after every 
rain, while the streams of the dense forests run clear and 
are undisturbed by ordinary rains even though they have 
a greater fall. 



THE FOKEST AS A PROTECTIVE COVER 207 

While it is thus quite easy to see how the forest pro- 
tects the soil, and, by so doing, regulates the flow of 




Fig. 74. How the Laud erodes after the Woods are gone. 

(Common sight in Mississippi) 

(After McGee) 

water, the influence of the forest on the climate by 
making it more temperate and humid is not so plain, 
and remains still a much-disputed question. 



208 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTKY 

Foniierh^ it was claimed that the forests would increase 
the rainfall, making the climate moister and more equable. 
Great scientists and travelers have spoken on both sides of 
the question ; and for over fift}^ years attempts have been 
made to test the truth of these things in a scientific way 
by carefully measuring temperature, rainfall, etc. Most 
of these experiments, however, have failed, and there is 
still much dispute as to just how much the forest can do. 
At present it is generally believed that the forests do not 
change the amount of rainfall very materially, and that 
•the arid oriental countries like Egypt, Asia Minor, and 
Persia were, even during their most glorious days, dry as 
they now are. On the other hand, the effects explained 
above remain valid ; and, of course, the more the condi- 
tions favor the destructive work of the water, the more 
apparent is this protective influence of the forest. 

Thus, parts of the French Alps were cleared off about 
the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century. Floods followed this clearing oft' with such 
regularity and force that many villages were destroyed 
and others abandoned because the floods covered the 
fields often yards deep with sterile gravel and bowlders. 
Then France began the great task of reforesting these 
mountains ; and, though not half completed, this task has 
already cost many millions of dollars. 

In our own country we are not without like examples. 
Lack of a forest cover in Mississippi led to a gullying 



THE FORESTS OF OUR COUNTRY 209 

which destroyed so much good farm land every year that 
a good authority says the damage amounted to more than 
the total income of the state from all its industries. 

As to the influence on the moisture of the air, it is 
well known to every farmer that a rail fence, if allowed 
to be crowded by woods, is thereby prevented from drying, 
and rots twice as quickly as it otherwise would. Again, 
it is well known in all newly settled districts that a road 
can never be kept in good condition unless the '" right of 
way" is cleared of timber to let in wind and sun. 

Similarly, in our Lake Region hundreds of miles of 
" corduroy " road are dirt roads to-day and thousands of 
small swamps have dried up, not tb rough any drainage, 
but merely because the woods were cut away. That 
these small changes are accompanied by great changes 
in the '' run-olf " of our larger streams is well illustrated 
by the fact that navigation has become difficult in a 
number of our important rivers, and altogether impossible 
in others, which within our own times were navigable. 

THE FORESTS OF OUR COUNTRY 

If we examine the accompanying map of our country, 
where the areas originally wooded are colored and the 
open prairies uncolored, we see that the Mississippi divides 
the country approximately into an eastern timbered and 
a western prairie portion. We see, too, that the line does 



210 FlU^T BOOK OF FORESTRY 

not quite follow the great river, but bends across to the 
east, leaving part of Wisconsin and Illinois as half prairie, 
and then crosses it again, including the greater part of 
Missouri, all of Arkansas, the eastern part of the Indian 
Territory, and Texas in the timbered portion. Following 
this western timber limit, we note a belt marked with 
green dots, extending from Texas to Minnesota, which 
is a sort of half prairie country where patches of forest, 
usually scrub-oak woods, alternate with prairies. To the 
west of this we see the great prairies and plains ; then 
a set of narrow red patches, representing the ragged, conif- 
erous forests covering part of the numerous high ranges 
of the Rockies ; then the bare, arid regions of the Great 
Basin ; and west of this, a broad belt of coniferous forests 
skirting the Pacific from the northern boundary nearly to 
the southern limit of California. 

Our eastern forest, we note, consists of three parts : a 
northern and a southern belt of coniferous forests, and 
a broad hardwood forest between these two. 

The northern belt of conifers is composed largely of 
white pine, Norway pine, and hemlock in the western and 
central parts, and of spruce in the eastern. The great 
pineries of Wisconsin and Michigan and the spruce woods 
of Maine belong to this belt. 

The southern belt of conifers is composed almost entirely 
of pure stands of the southern pines, the longleaf , loblolly, 
and shortleaf, with cypress covering the swamps. 



9 

0\ 



O 
a> 



o 

CD 
QQ 



P 
O 



a. 
.-1- 




212 FIRST BOOK OY FOKESTKY 

The broad-leaved or hardwood forests occupying the 
greater portion of the eastern United States may be divided 
into a southern and a northern half. The former extends 
from New England to Missouri, and is characterized by 
the fact that, almost everywhere, the hardwood forest is 
dotted conspicuously by pine ; the part north and west of 
the Alleghenies is practically without this mixture. On 
the whole, this great hardwood forest may be called an 
oak forest with a variable mixture of chestnut, hickory, 
yellow poplar, elm, ash, beech, and other broad-leaved 
trees. At its northern limit the oaks give way to birch, 
and at its southern to pine. 

Both the northern and southern belts of conifers are to 
this day large, almost unbroken forests, with compara- 
tively little settlement. It is in the great hardwood 
region of our country that a goodly share of the forest 
has made way for the plow and that the greater part of 
our people live. 

The coniferous forests of the Rocky Mountain ranges, 
composed mostly of yellow pine, red fir, and spruce, are 
interrupted by numerous prairies and bare lands, and thus 
cover but part of these mountains. 

The forests of tlie Pacific coast region are among the 
most remarkable forests in the world. Those of Cali- 
fornia are largely made up of gigantic redwoods, red fir, 
and pine, while those of Oregon and Washington are 
chiefly forests of red fir, hemlock, cedar, and balsam. 



THE FORESTS OF OUK COUNTRY 213 

Both redwood and red iir grow to be over two hundred 
and fifty feet high ; and while an acre of good spruce land 
in Maine yields ten thousand feet B.M., it is not a rare 
thing to cut over two hundred thousand feet B.M. from an 
acre of redwood or red fir. 

If we ask how much forest we have left, the answer 
is quite encouraging. In the New England States, the 
Lake States, and the entire South, not over thirty per cent 
of all the land is in use for field and meadow, leaving 
nearly seventy per cent for forest and w^aste, of which the 
greater part is still fairly wooded. 

The forest lands of our eastern United States practically 
all belong to private owners, individuals, or companies, 
though some tracts are owned by the several states as 
school lands, etc. In the Western States the Federal 
Government still holds a consideralile portion, especially 
of the more remote forests covering the several mountain 
chains. 

Of the private owners, railway and lumber companies 
have most of the larger tracts, especially in the pineries, 
both north and south ; while the greater part of the hard- 
w^ood forests are in the hands of actual settlers or farmers. 

Of late years the Federal Government has set aside a 
number of tracts of mountain forests in our Western States 
as forest reserves for the purpose of protecting these 
areas against erosion and consequent disturbance of 
water flow. There are now over forty of these reserves, 



214 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

including over forty-six million acres of land, an area 
nearly as large as North and South Carolina together. 
Largely for the same pur230se the state of New York 
has established the Adirondack Park, of which it now 
owns about one million three hundred thousand acres ; 
and the state of Pennsylvania also is beginning to buy 
some of its denuded and burned-over mountain districts 
for similar use. 

SOME HISTORY 

Even the ancients, the Greeks and Romans, had some 
notion of the value of their forests, and put forth many 
efforts to prevent their useless destruction. These efforts 
were of little avail, and the Mediterranean lands to-day 
are sorely in need of more wood, and their mountains of 
a better cover. 

In the colder climates of central Europe the value of 
forests was fully recognized as early as the year 1300. 
Though at that time the increasing population required 
larger and larger fields to provide grain and fodder, yet 
the clearing away of forest was regulated, and in many 
localities entirely forbidden. Many of the towns began 
to buy forest land to guard against a wood famine. The 
fundamental principles of forestry, that the land must be 
kept stocked with trees and that we must not cut more 
than the growth if the forest is to be kept up, were also 
clearly recognized. 



SOME HISTORY 215 

Thus, in the Sihlwalcl, a tract of forest which has been 
in possession of the city of Zurich for about a thousand 
years, the amount of wood to be cut each year and the 
proper way of cutting it were determined by competent 
men more than six hundred years ago. And so well was 
this done, and so carefully was their plan followed out, 
that this forest all this time has furnished every year the 
fixed amount of timber, and is to-day in better condition 
(and, therefore, better able to supply wood) than at any 
time before. 

Numerous laws and orders, issued from the twelfth cen- 
tury forward by communities, towns, and governments, 
regulated every feature of forest management and use. 
The cutting, shipping, and seUing of timber, the burning 
of charcoal, the peeling of tan bark, the gathering of rosin, 
the pasturing of cattle and hogs, and even the keeping of 
bees and gathering of wild honey, which in those days was 
a very important business in many districts, were all care- 
fully prescribed, to avoid dispute, and still more to prevent 
" the killing of the goose that lays the golden egg." 

As with laws in all times and countries, many were 
unjust and oppressive ; and when the French Revolution 
freed the people of Europe from the fetters of medieval 
ignorance, sophistry, and brutality, there was a reaction 
against the forest laws, the real worth of which was 
always least understood by the very people most benefited 
by them. 



216 FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

In France this reaction did serious and permanent 
damage; the forests everywhere were slashed and cleared, 
and the great expense of restocking the southern Alps, 
and the enormous sums paid every year to Sweden and 
Russia for lumber which the short-lived coppice woods of 
France are unable to furnish, are the fines paid for folly. 

The people of the Teutonic lands were not so readily 
moved, and their conservative attitude with regard to the 
forest has been fully rewarded. In densely populated 
Germany the forests cover twenty-six per cent of all land ; 
about one third of these forests belongs to the govern- 
ments, about one half to private owners, and the rest to 
cities and villages. In Prussia and Saxony the private 
people can do with their forest whatever they choose, cut 
and clear as they please; but in most of the states the 
government looks upon a forest as an inheritance which 
the owner may use, but which he may not mismanage, and 
may never destroy without giving satisfactory reasons. 

Most of the forests of Germany are of pine and spruce. 
Nearly all of the government forests are '' timljer forests," 
and are managed on a rotation of about eighty to a hundred 
years, so that all timber is cut long before it is overripe. 

The majority of these forests are in small bodies, in 
the midst of settlements, and have, therefore, good per- 
manent roads, a local market, and ample protection. The 
sawmill here is not a temporary affair, some mills having 
been in operation for several centuries. 



THE WOOD 217 



THE WOOD 



Having learned something about forests, let iis now 
examine a little more closely their main product, the wood. 



Some Structural Features 

Sai^) and Heart. — We have observed on some of the 
stumps and ends of logs that different kinds differ in 
appearance. On the oak we saw the rough bark outside, 
then a layer of lighter colored wood, the sapwood ; and 
within this the darker heartwood, containing, somewhere 
near the center, the tiny brownish pith. This same 
arrangement of sapwood and heartwood we find in the 
majority of our useful timber trees. In some, like hick- 
ory and elm, the sapwood is wide ; in others, like the 
locust and catalpa, it is narrow ; and in some trees, like 
spruce, l)alsam, hemlock, and maple, it has no distinct 
color at all. The sapwood and heartwood differ not only 
in color, but also in durability ; the sapwood part of our 
oak post decays in a very short time, while the heartwood 
part lasts for years. This difference is very important, 
and particularly in those kinds of Avoods where the heart 
is durable. 

Annual Rings. — We have also noticed that the wood 
at the end of the log appears to be made up of rings ; 
and we learned that these are called annual or yearly 



218 rmsT book of forestry 

rings, because one is formed each year. These rings are 
valuable age marks, since they tell us a good deal about 
the history of the tree. 

Let us now take pieces of oak, maple, and yellow pop- 
lar, and of pine and hemlock, and cut the ends with a 
sharp pocket knife, moistening them first and making the 
cut a little slanting. We observe that the rings on the 
oak are easily counted and are distinguishable by a line 
of little holes or pores; those of the maple and yellow 
poplar are distinguished by a fine line, but not a line of 
pores ; and those of the pine are divided by a line of 
darker wood, which sometimes forms a broad brown band, 
especially in yellow or hard pine. 

Spring Wood and Summer Wood. — The inner portion of 
the ring, usually on the concave of the arc, is naturally 
formed earlier, and the outer part later in the season ; we 
call them, therefore, the spring wood and the summer 
wood of the ring. In the yellow pine these two are 
sharply defined; the spring wood is of a light yellowish 
color, and the summer wood of a dark orange brown. In 
maple and many other woods they are not sharply defined, 
but it is convenient, just the same, to use the terms in 
talking of these woods. 

Looking at Figs. 56 and 57, we notice that the patterns 
of rift and bastard or tangent boards are principally due 
to the difference between spring and summer wood. The 
dark bands in yellow pine are summer wood ; the scratched, 



THE WOOD 



219 



usually darkest, but in the picture lightest appearing por- 
tion, in ash, oak, etc., is spring wood. 

Pores. — We have already noticed the conspicuous 
pores in the spring wood of oak. Besides the larger pores, 
there are many smaller ones in the same wood. Most of 




'•i, ** '<*t^'\ \.1 •■> •" ' "H^l 


■^^■^^^■^^^^^BP^""^ 


HWV:- '''■-^'- '"^^ 




: m 


'fli' ^ 



Fig. 76. Cross Section of Oak (upper), Ring -Porous Wood ; Hard 
Pine (lower), Non-Porous Wood 



these are in the summer wood of the rings, so that we 
have in the oak large pores in the spring wood and small 
pores in the summer wood, all of which serve as water 
ducts or vessels when first formed. 

In maple and yellow poplar we can also see pores, but 
they are extremely small and usually require a magnifying 



220 



FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 



glass to see tliem. These pores are nearly all of one size, and 

they are evenly scattered through spring and summer wood. 

In pine and hemlock we do not find these pores, though 

in pine we do find little white specks which resemble 




Beech - 



Fig. 77. 



. Sycamore ^ Birch . 

Uilt'use Porous Wt)ods 



><2;r 



ar-! 




sw. 



\sp.w. 



Fig. 78. Non-Porous Woods 

^,fir; i?, hard pine; C, soft pine ; ar., annual ring; o.e., outer edge of ring; i.e., 
inner edge of ring ; s.tti., summer wood; sp.zo., spring wood ; r.cZ., resin ducts 

pores ; they are resin ducts, however, and are not like 
the pores we see in other woods. 

The pores, especially the large ones, are easily seen on 
the sides of hoards, and they have much to do with the 



THE WOOD 



'221 



pattern or picture presented by the wood. This is best 
seen in woods like oak, ash, and chestnut, where the pores 
of the spring wood are so large that they need a ^' filler " 




Fig. 79. Wood of Spruce 

1, natural size; 2, small part of one ring magnified 100 times. The vertical 
tubes are wood fibers, in this ease all *' traeheids." //*, medulhiry or pith 
ray; n, transverse tracheids of pith ray; a, b, and c, l)ordered pits of the 
tracheids, more enlarged 

in finishing or polishing. The pores are the most impor- 
tant marks by which we can distinguish woods, and we 
divide all of our woods into three groups : 



222 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



c 




If 



'm, 



Fig. 81 



Fig. 80 

Fig. 80. Spiral (Train. 
(Season checks, after 
removal of bark, indi- 
cate the direction of the 
fibers or grain) 

Fig. 81. Shortleaf Pine. 
(Cross section of parts 
of two rings) 

sp.iv., spring wood with thin 
walls; SUM., summer wood 
with thick walls. The cells 
run in rows which extend 
through several rings. (Mag- 
nified about 70 times) 



The ring-porous 
ivoods, like oak, ash, 
chestnut, locust, 
elm, hickory, etc., 
where the ring is 
defined by a line 
of large pores in 
the spring wood. 

The d iffu s e- 
^joroics ivoods, like 
maple, yellow pop- 
lar, and cherry, 
where the pores are 
usually very small 
and evenly scat- 
tered through the 
annual ring. 

The 7io7i-2Jorous 
ivoods, like pine, 
spruce, hemlock, 
and all our conif- 
erous woods. 

PitJt Rays. — 
Looking at a cross 
section of a log or 
piece of oak, we 
observe broad lines 



THE WOOD 



223 



running from the bark toward the center, or pith. They 
are the pith rays. If we examine the side of the board, 
they look hke broad bands if the board is quarter-sawed 
or rift, and as short brown lines if bastard or tangent. 




Fig. 82. Alternating Spiral Grain in C,>i3ress. 
view of same piece) 



bark 



(Side and end 



When the bark was at o the grain at this point was straight. From that time 
each year it grew more oblique in one direction, reaching a climax at a, and 
then turned back in the opposite direction. These alternations were repeated 
periodically, the bark sharing in these changes 



224 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



In the oak, part of the pith I'ays are very large, the 
rest too small to be seen without a magnifying glass ; in 
chestnut they are all small ; in ])eech some are large, some 
small, as in oak ; in maple and cherry most of them are 
small, but easily seen ; in birch they are all too small to 
be seen without a magnifying glass. Thus, the pith rays, 
like the pores, are valuable marks by which to distinguish 
the different woods, and they help to make up the pattern, 
as is clearly seen on almost every kind of hardwood board. 

The Grain. — The 
wood of our trees is 
made up of cells, all 
of which are little 
tubes, which have 
walls of definite 
thickness and ap- 
pearance. Each such cell is the abandoned dwelling of a 
living being, the cell proper, which fed and digested, 
secreted and worked, built up the little wooden case which 
we now call cell or fiber, and then died and disappeared. 
Most cells die during their first year, so that the wood is 
nearly all made up of little lifeless cases or tubes. 

Some of these tubes are short, others long, some have 
thick walls, some thin, and most of them have their walls 
more or less sculptured. The long tubes, which make 
the bulk of the wood, we commonly call fibers, though 
there are several distinct kinds of these. 




FiCx. 8.S. A « Bird's-eye " Board 



THE WOOD 



225 



Some cells in wood are large enough to be seen with 
the unaided eye, but most of them are very small and 




Fig. 84. Wavy Grain in Beech 
(After Nordliuger) 

can be seen only if much magnified. 
If the fibers run straight up and 
down in the log, so that it splits 
straight, we call it straight grain; 
if they run spirally around as well 
as up, we call it sjriral or twisted 
gram. Most logs have more or 
less twisted grain. Sometimes the 
fibers twist one way in a number 
of rings and then in the opposite 
way in the rings farther out (see 
Fig. 82), and thus make splitting 




Fig. 85. Section of Knot 

P, pith of both stem and limb ; 
1-7, seven yearly layers of 
wood ; a, b, knot or basal part 
of a limb which lived four 
years, then died and broke off 
near the stem, leaving the 
part to the left of a, b a 
" sound " knot, the part to 
the right a "dead" knot, 
which would soon be entirely 
covered by the growing stem 



226 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

almost impossible. In maple, cypress, ash, yellow poplar, 
and many other woods, the surface of the log often is not 
smooth, but has many little projections (cypress) or depres- 
sions (maple, etc.), which continue from year to year, i.e., 
they do not fill up, and one layer of wood after another has 
the dent at the same point. Similarly, the fibers often run 
wavy, as shown in the figure. Now if such wood is cut by 
the saw in a straight line, the darker summer wood in 
cypress, or the fibers cut almost transversely in maple and 
other similar woods, appear at this point as a circle of dark 
on a field of lighter colored wood, and we have the bird's- 
eye structure. " Curly " maple is wood in which the fibers 
run in wavy lines, so that part of the fibers are cut across, 
others cut lengthwise, thus giving bands of darker and 
lighter shades owing to the darker color of the cross 
section. 

Knots. — The position of the grain and the appearance 
of knots are explained by Fig. 85. 

Knots, like cross grain, are normal defects, and occur 
in all kinds of trees and nearly all kinds and grades of 
lumber. A dead knot, of course, is always much more 
serious, since it may drop out at any time and leave a 
hole in the structure. 



THE WOOD 227 

Some Physical Pkopekties 

Weight. — Most of our wood is lighter than water, and 
therefore it floats. But if we leave a jDiece of wood in 
water a long time it sinks ; and thus we see that the solid 
or wood substance of which the cell walls are made is 
heavier than water. If, therefore, the walls of all cells 
are very thick, the wood, like many of our tropical woods, 
may never float. Most of our useful timbers float when 
dry, and the majority w^eigh about four to seven tenths as 
much as water, or about twenty-five to forty-three pounds 
per cubic foot, and hence about two to three and a half 
pounds per foot, board measure. 

Moisture. — When first formed the cell is filled with 
living substance resembling the white of an Qgg, so that 
the freshly formed wood is full of water. In an ordinary 
log of pine, more than half the cells are empty, but their 
walls are still moist. 

Most of the water in such a log is in the sapwood, but 
there is much difference in different kinds of trees. Com- 
monly it is supposed that the water in the wood, usually 
called " sap," goes out of the log in the fall and returns in 
the spring. The reason for the belief is the fact that 
many trees bleed in the spring but not in winter. This 
belief is erroneous, for by actual trial we find that the 
wood contains about as much water in winter as in 
summer. 



228 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTRY 

If wood is sawed or split, so that it is exposed to air, this 
water evaporates. x\t ordinary temperature, as in a wood 
shed, it will dry so far that a hundred pounds of wood will 
contain only about ten pounds of water. If we put this lumber 
in a hot room or ''dry kiln," it dries out still more. When it 
comes out of the '' dry kiln " it absorbs water again, and after 
a few days may have as much as six pounds per hundred. 

Shrinkage. — While drying, the wood shrinks, i.e., it 
grows smaller. It shrinks about ten times as much side- 
wise as endwise, and shrinks less radially, i.e., in the 
direction from the pith to bark, than tangential ly, so that 
a "rift" or "quartered" board shrinks only about one 
half to two thirds as much as a tangent board. 

When a board lies on the wet ground in the sun it dries 
and shrinks on one side and less or not at all on the other, 
and therefore curls or warps. 

If a peeled log or a thick board dries rapidly the outer 
part shrinks before the inner, and thus the "jacket" is 
too small ; it bursts, and the wood is said to "check" or 
crack. After the inner part dries these checks close up; 
but in larger pieces some stay open and grow larger for a 
long time. This kind of checks is permanent and is due 
to the greater shrinkage in the tangential direction. 

Coniferous wood shrinks less, warps and checks less than 
hard wood, and generally heavy woods shrink more than 
light ones. To avoid the mischief of shrinking we use 
flooring in narrow strips, so that the change is distributed 



THE WOOD 



229 



among many pieces, and the opening among many 
joints. We also use panels in doors, and veneer in furni- 
ture, and for the same reason bore 
out columns, and build up columns 
and posts of several pieces. 

Strength. — Wood is very strong. 
To crush a cube of dry wood one 
inch each way, with the fibers on 
end, requires about six to ten 
thousand pounds pressure. It 
requires only about one third to 
one half as much if the piece is 
soaked, or if it is green ; for sea- 
soned timber is always stronger 
than green timber of the same 
kind. 

To pull it apart lengthwise, 
wood requires about twice as much 
power as to crush it endwise ; but 
to pull it apart sidewise, as when 
we pull out a mortise, requires 
only about one tenth as much 
force as to crush it endwise. 

Most conifers break without 
much bending ; but elm, hickory, etc., are strong and yet 
bend far before they break. We call them tough ivoocls. 

Heavy woods are generally stronger than lighter woods. 




Fig. 86. Effects of 
Shrinkage 



230 FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTIIY 

Some Chemical Properties 

When sufficiently heated wood burns or oxidizes ; and 
this, while it is not a desirable quality in a building mate- 
rial, is otherwise one of its greatest virtues. 

If heated in a close vessel, various substances are made 
in the form of gases ; and, as Ave have seen, this is taken 
advantage of by the ^' acid man." 

By means of chemicals wood is easily changed into 
sugar ; and if ever this can be done cheaply enough, wood 
may become an important source of food. 

Durability and Decay. — All kinds of wood are subject 
to destruction by decay-producing fungi. One of the 
countless millions of spores of some fungus drops on a 
timber, and is carried by a raindrop into the interior of 
a pore. If conditions are favorable, it germinates, grows 
into a thread of " mycelium "; and this thread, which is a 
series of living cells, attaches itself closely to the wall of 
the wood cell, secretes a juice which is capable of dissolv- 
ing wood, and which changes at least a part of it into 
sugarlike substances which are taken into the cells of the 
mycelium as food. Now decay has begun, and in a short 
time, if beech or maple is the timber, it is penetrated in 
all directions. At first the wood is merely discolored, and 
looks " dead " ; later on it becomes brittle, and finally 
it becomes a powdery mass, and in keeping with these 
changes loses its resistance. 



THE WOOD 



231 



If kept dry or if kept under water, wood does not 
decay. Charring the wood gives it a wrapper of charcoal, 
which the fungus cannot pene- 
trate ; painting and whitewashing 
do the same. But if painted before 
dry, the paint does harm by pre- 
venting the timber from drying. 

Salts of zinc, copper, and mer- 
cury, and heavy oils are used to 




Fig. 87 

Fig. 87. "Shelf" Fimgiis on the 
Stem of a Pine 

a, sound wood; b, resinous "light" 
wood ; c, partly decayed wood or 
punk ; d, layer of living spore tubes ; 
e, old filled-ap spore tubes; /, tinted 
upper surface of the fruiting body 
of the fungus, which gets its food 
through a great number of fine 
threads (the mycelium), its vegeta- 
tive tissue penetrating the wood and 
causing its decay. (After Hartig) 




Fig. 88. 



Fungus Threads in Pine 
Wood 



a, cell wall of the wood fibers; b, 
bordered pits of these fibers ; c, 
thread of mycelium of the fungus; 
d, holes in the cell walls made by the 
fungus threads, which gradually dis- 
solve the walls as shown at e, and 
thus l)reak down the wood structure. 
(After Hartig) 



232 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

kill the fungi. Usually the wood is boiled in the solution, 
or else this is injected into the wood. Railway ties are thus 
made to last much longer than they otherwise would. 

The sapwood of all kinds of trees is very perishable ; 
but the heartwood is usually more or less resistant. No 
wood is entirely exempt from destruction by decay. 

All cedars, cypress, redwood, etc., also locust, walnut, 
white oak, chestnut, mulberry, and catalpa, make a durable 
timber; maj^le, beech, birch, poplar, ash, red oak, hick- 
ory, black gum, spruce, balsam, and hemlock are perish- 
able; while white pine, yellow or hard pine, elm, tulip, 
and red gum seem to have an intermediate position. 

In dry countries, like our arid West, even perishable 
woods last a long time ; while in moist and hot districts 
even durable timber decays fast. Warmth and moisture 
help, dryness and cold hinder, and full seasoning and 
complete immersion prevent decay. 

Wood as compaked with Iron 

Much is often learned by comparing a substance with 
its natural or most important competitor. Examining 
wood and iron in this way, we find : 

I. Wood is a natural product ; iron the product of a 
costly, complicated manufacture. Wood may be grown 
wherever man wishes to use it ; the manufacture of iron 
is practically confined to particular localities. The mines 



THE WOOD 233 

of both iron and coal are exhaustible ; the forest, undei' 
proper management, produces forever. 

2. Wood is cheap ; metals are dear. Even in the form 
of lumber, and with the cost of long-distance transporta- 
tion added, wood rarely costs the consumer in tliis country 
more than twenty-five cents per cubic foot ; while iron in 
bars and sheets is Avorth at wliolesale from five to ten 
dollars per cubic foot. 

3. Wood is soft ; simple tools and small effort suffice 
to shape it. Iron is hard ; any change of form, whether 
by casting, rolling, sawing, cutting, planing, turning, 
filing, boring, or grinding, requires much labor, or else 
complicated and costly processes and equipments. In 
the ease and rapidity with which wood can be shaped, 
reshaped, and combined in structures, it excels all other 
materials. 

4. Wood cleaves or splits ; metals do not. While this 
property has its disadvantages, it is one that in some 
directions determines the usefulness of wood. It permits 
ready preparation for fencing and firewood, which latter 
use exceeds in bulk ten times the amount of iron and 
steel used in this country. 

5. Wood is stronger than is usually supposed. In 
tensile strength (pull lengthwise or with the grahi of the 
wood) a bar of hickory exceeds a similar bar of wrought 
iron of the same length and weight, and it even surpasses 
steel under the same conditions. 



234 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Similarly, a select block of hickory or of longleaf pine 
sustains a greater weight in compression endwise (jiarallel 
to the grain of the wood) than a block of wrought iron 
of the same height and weight, and nearly approaches 
cast iron in this respect. 

6. Wood is light; iron and steel are heavy. The 
average weight of all wood used in this country does not 
exceed thirty-one pounds per cubic foot ; that of iron and 
steel is from four hundred and thirty to four hundred 
and fifty pounds per cubic foot. This quality affects ease 
of handling and transportation ; it permits the floating of 
most woods when green, and of all of them when dry. 

7. Wood is a poor conductor of heat and electricity. 
Heated to one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, or 
cooled below the freezing point of water, iron, steel, and 
other metals are painful to the touch ; and even far within 
these limits metals are objectionable on account of their 
ready conductivity of heat. Wood, on the other hand, is 
entirely inoffensive as long as its temperature remains 
within the above limits. The objections to metal dwellings 
on this account are experienced in heavy-armored ships, 
which, in spite of the excellence of an ocean climate, are 
notoriously uncomfortable. 

When exposed to heat, wood is ignited and destroyed 
by fire. The inflammability and combustibility of wood 
at high temperatures, though among its most valuable 
properties, are, at times, a drawback which metals do not 



THE W(30D 235 

share ; nevertheless, during conflagrations the behavior 
of wooden structures is often less objectionable than that 
of metal structures ; for, though a beam of wood burns, it 
retains its shape to the last, and the structure may stand 
and be saved ; while under the same circumstances metal 
beams twist out of shape and thereby occasion the fall of 
the entire structure. This behavior of wood in conflagra- 
tion has induced the best authorities, fire underwriters 
and others, to recommend the use of wood in all large 
structures where the combustible contents of the rooms 
annul the value of fireproof metal construction. 

If wood were a good conductor of electricity, its useful- 
ness as a material of construction in our large cities 
would be much impaired, for it appears to be a very 
serious and constantly growing difficulty to protect life 
and property against this dangerous but useful force. 

8. Woods are normally inoffensive in smell and taste. 
Liquors and wines of the most delicate flavors are kept in 
oaken casks for many years without suffering in quality. 
Chemical changes, often directly producing poison, pre- 
vent the use of cheap metals for these purposes. 

9. Owing to their structure, all woods present varieties 
of characteristic aspects, and possess no small degree of 
beauty. A plain surface of metal, of whatever kind, is 
monotonous ; while one of wood, unless marred by paint, 
presents such a variety of unobtrusive figures that the 
eye never tires of seeing them. That this beauty is quite 



236 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

fully appreciated is best illustrated by the fact that 
pianos, sideboards, and other elegant furniture are not 
covered with sheet metal (as they might very cheaply 
and effectively be), and that the handsome floors of costly 
structures are neither painted nor carpeted. 

10. Wood is easily and effectively united by the simple 
process of gluing, so that valuable combinations, whether 
for behavior, strength, or beauty, are possible. A three- 
ply veneer board may be not only as pretty but also 
more serviceable than a simple board of any one of the 
two or three kinds of w^ood of Avhich it is composed ; and 
a white-pine door with cherry or walnut veneer is not 
only fully as handsome as a walnut door, but it is far 
superior in its behavior, since all shrinking and warping 
is thereby practically prevented. Iron and steel may be 
welded ; most metals can be soldered ; but neither of these 
processes can be compared to gluing in ease of operation. 

So far wood has been regarded only as a material of 
construction ; but while this is perhaps the most impor- 
tant consideration, the use of wood as a substance which 
may be altered physically and chemically is far more 
important than is generally admitted. 

11. The great mass of mankind is Avarmed and has its 
food cooked by wood fires. Even in this country to-day, 
in spite of the great competition of coal, three fourths of 
all the homes and thousands of manufacturing establish- 
ments are supplied with heat from wood. 



THE WOOD 237 

12. Wood is ground into pulp and made into paper 
and pulp boards with endless variety of application. 
Wood pulp, made by chemical processes, results in cellu- 
lose and its countless derivatives, which are capable of 
supplying almost anything, from a shirt collar to a car 

wheel. 

13. Distillation of wood furnishes charcoal to the smithy 
or furnace ; vinegar to the table ; alcohol to the artisan ; 
creosote to the wood preserver ; gas for fuel and hght ; 
tar for roof boards ; pyroHgneous, oxahc, acetic, and other 
acids, as well as acetone, paraffin, naphthalin, etc., to the 
manufacturing chemist ; and, by a shght variation of the 
process, lampblack to the printer and painter. 

Wood also differs from the metals in several other 
respects. It is not fusible ; it cannot be cast ; hence, to 
duphcate a form in wood requires the same amount of 
effort as did the original. Changed into pulp, and still 
more into cellulose, this drawback is largely overcome. 
Wood cannot be welded, — though, as stated before, this 
is more than compensated by gluing; nevertheless, an 
end-to-end junction of the kind produced in iron cannot 

be effected. 

Wood cannot be rolled ; it must be cut into shape ; but 
owing to its softness and cleavability this requires incompar- 
ably less effort and equipment than the rolling of metals. 

Wood is hygroscopic ; it contains water under all ordi- 
narv conditions, and the amount so contained varies with 



238 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

external conditions and with it the dimensions of the piece. 
Though an advantage in a barrel or tube, by making it 
more secure against leakage, this peculiarity of wood is 
nevertheless a drawback not belonging to the metals, but 
corresponding to the drawback in the use of metals 
occasioned by their annoying expansion and contraction 
due to change of temperature. 

Wood decays ; iron and steel oxidize or rust. Both are 
serious drawbacks to the use of these materials ; but since 
decay dej^ends on living organisms, whose multiplication 
is sometimes extremely rapid, at other times almost 
imperceptible, varying with the conditions of the wood 
(moisture, temperature, etc.), the decay of woods is gen- 
erally more damaging than the oxidation of metals. 
Under water, wood lasts longer than steel or iron. 



HOW TO DISTINGUISH OUR COMMON TREES 

Most of us know a few trees sufficiently well to distin- 
guish one kind from another. Usually it is the general 
appearance, sometimes the bark or leaf, which we recog- 
nize ; and often we know the tree only while in its 
summer dress. 

Let us examine our common trees more closely and 
note wherein they differ. 

Here is a red-oak tree. Breaking off a twig, we notice 
that the leaves are simple and not made u}) of several 



HOW TO IJISTINOUISH TEEES 239 

leaflets ; that they stand singly, not ni pairs ; and that 
they are lobed, each lobe with one or two sharp points. 
Examining the twig of an elm, we find that the leaves 
are also simple, and alternate, Ijnt that they are finely 
toothed. On this sprig of maple the leaves are in pairs, 
they stand opposite, and are both lobed and toothed. On 
the ash we find each leaf made np of several leaflets ; it 
is a compound leaf, and we find the leaves opposite or in 
pairs, while in the hickory the leaves are also compound 
but not in pairs. 

Thus, the leaves are an excellent guide to the study of 
trees ; and since opposite leaves also leave opposite scars 
and lead to opposite buds and branches, they help us to 
know the trees even in their winter garb. 

We will arrange our common forest trees according to 
their leaves, and thus make a key which will help us to 
recognize them with more certainty. Generally we shall 
be assisted by the fruit, the twigs, the bark, and the buds ; 
more rarely by the flowers, since these can be seen only 
during a few days in each year, and in- some cases are 
even then quite difficult to examine. 

Looking over our trees, we may at once divide them 
into two large groups : the evergreen or cone-bearing trees, 
and the broad-leaved or deciduous trees. These names 
we must not take too strictly, for some evergreens like 
the tamarack shed their leaves every fall, and some 
deciduous trees like live oaks are green the year round. 



240 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Our important coue-hearing trees all belong to the pine 
family. In the pines the leaves are needle-shaped and 
long (up to twelve inches), while in spruce, balsam, etc., 
they are short, and in most of our cedars they are mere 
green scales, closely appressed to the twig. 

Arranging the groups of the pine familij according to 
leaf, fruit, and bark, we have the following simple scheme : 

Conifers 
I. Pines, spruces, etc. 

Bark smooth or rough but never stringy. Leaves needle-shaped. 
Fruit a woody cone of many scales. 

A. Leaves in bundles or clusters. 

a. Pines. Leaves in bundles of two to five in a com- 
mon sheath (Fig. 89). Among pines we have 
approximately : 

(1) Leaves five in a bundle: tvhite pines (Fig. 45). 

(2) Leaves three in a bundle: yellow pines (Fig. <S9), 

including our southern and western lumber 
pines. 

(3) Leaves two in a bundle : Norway pine, jack pines, 

and pinons. 

h. Larch or Tamarack. The short, light green leaves, 
in clusters of ten and more, are not in a common 
sheath and are deciduous (Fig. 89). 

B. Leaves singly scattered over the twig. 

1. The cones are pendulous, i.e., hang downward ; they cling 
to the twig for months after they are ripe, and do not 
fall to pieces by the dropping away of the scales. 




Fig. 89. Conifers with Leaves in Bundles 

A, B, C, shortleaf pine; J), larch. A, pine leaves in bundles of two and three; 
B, pine cones just about ripe ; C, old empty pine cone still clinging to branch ; 
/>, larch ; leaves in bundles of ten or more 



•24] 



242 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



a. 



h. 



Spruces. Leaves stiff, mostly four-sided, and pointed; 

the bark scales are never bright red ; the wood is 

white (Fig. 90, A). 
Hemlocks. Leaves are soft, flat, and short, usually 

two-ranked so that the sprig appears flat ; the bark 

scales when broken off appear red ; the wood has 

a reddish cast (Fig. 90, D). 






Fig. 90. Conifers with Leaves not in Bundles 

A, spruce: leaves stiff and pointed, cones hang down; C, red fir: leaves soft, 
cones hang down, bracts protrude like little tongues; D, hemlock: leaves 
short and soft, cones small, bracts do not protrude; B, balsam: cones erect, 
fall apart after ripening, so that no old cones are found on or under the tree. 
{A and D after Bureau of Forestry ; B and C after Beissner) 







Fig. 91. The Cedars 

A, cypress : the leaves deciduous, cones persist ; B, redwood : the leaves and l 

persist; C, white cedar: leaves are mere scales, cones spherical- D arbor 
vitae : cones small, elongated, but persistent. (All after Beissner) 



. cones 



248 



244 IMRST 1K)0K OF FORESTRY 

c. B,ed Fir. The leaves are flat, soft ; the cones are 

" feathered " by sharp-pointed bracts projecting 
from between the cone-scales (Fig. 90, C). 

2. The cones stand erect on the twig, and fall to pieces soon 
after ripening, so that no full-sized cones are seen on 
the trees nor under them except at the time when the 
cones approach maturity. 

d. Balsams or White Firs. Leaves mostly soft, flat, and 

blunt ; the bark mostly smooth ; the crown dense 
and sharp-pointed (Fig. 90, B). 

II. The cedars and their allies. 

The bark has a " stringy " appearance, so that all trees of this 
group are conspicuous on this account. The leaves are needle- 
shaped or mere scales ; the fruit is a small cone, and, in one group, 
a berry. 

A. Leaves needle-shaped. 

a. Cyjyress. Leaves deciduous, the trees bare in winter ; 

the heartwood light brown (Fig. 91, A). 

b. Redwood. Leaves persistent, the heartwood red 

(Fig. 91, ^). 

B. Leaves scalelike, appressed. 

1. Fruit a persistent woody cone, which can be seen at all 

times of the year on or under the trees. 

a. White Cedars. Cone small, spherical ; heartwood light 
brown (Fig. 91, C). 

h. Bigtree. Cones quite large ; heartwood red. 

c. Arbor Vita's and Incense Cedar. Cones elongated; 

heartwood brownish (Fig. 91, D). 

2. Fruit a berry, usually of a dark bluish color. 
a. Red Cedars. Heartwood red. 






FlG. 92. Broad-Leaved Trees w itli Simple, Alternate, Tooth-Edged Leaves 

A, beech; B, chestnut; C, birch: tlie little cones fall to pieces when ripe: D, 

poplar: the fruit borne on catkins. {A, C, and D from Britton and Brown's 

"Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada." B from Schwartz' 

" Forstliche Botanik ") 

245 



246 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Broad-Leaved Trees 
I. Leaves simple (not compound, i.e., not made up of several leaflets). 
A. Leaves alternate, not in pairs. 
1. The edge of the leaf toothed. 

a. Beech. Trees with smooth, grayish green bark; fruit 

a small prickly bur (Fig. 92, A). 
h. Chestnut. Large trees with rough bark ; fruit a large 
prickly bur, often two inches wide (Fig. 92, B). 

c. Birches. Trees generally with smooth whitish bark, 

which in most kinds curls up and peels off in thin 
layers. The bark of the twigs when chewed tastes 
of wintergreen. Fruit a small soft cone, resembling 
that of conifers, and falling apart when ripe (Fig. 
92, (7), thus strewing the ground with the small 
crosslike scales and the tiny winged seeds. 

d. Foplars and Cottonwoods. Bark smooth on young trees 

and on limbs, rough on older stems ; wood soft and 
white, very brittle. The fruit is very small and 
borne on little perishable catkins resembling willow 
'' pussies " (Fig. 92, D), so that it is not ordinarily 
met with either on or under the tree. 

e. Elms. Bark dark brown, rough ; the fruit, which ripens 

in spring, is shed and blown away at once, so that 
it is not commonly seen ; the wood is yellowish 
to reddish brown when fresh, and is very tough 
(Fig. 93,^). 

f. Basswood. Bark gray and rough, with a tough stringy 

inner portion, the bast. The fruit is a small round 
berrylike nut, of which two or more are attached to 
a long stem coming out of a narrow, specially modi- 
fied leaf. These leaves and nuts endure for months 
on and under the tree (Fig. 93, B). 







Fig. 1)8. Broad-Leaved Trees \vith Simple, Alternate, Tooth-Edged Leaves 

A, Elm: fruit ripens in spring; B, basswood: fruit persists; C, cherry: bark 
tastes of almond : D, sycamore : fruit conspicuous and persistent. (After 
Britton and Brown's " Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada ") 



24^ 



248 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRV 

g. Cherry. Bark scaly, of dark color, its inner part witji 
a taste of cherry seeds ; heartwood of reddish color 
and hard. The fruit is so perishable that it helps 
us to distinguish the tree only for a short time in 
summer (Fig. 93, C). 

h. Sycamore or Buttoii Tree. Bark whitish to greenish 
gray, smooth, peeling off more or less regularly and 
thus gives the tree a very conspicuous appearance. 
The peculiar fruit (Fig. 93, D) persists all through 
winter and thus helps us to recognize this tree. 
2. The edge of the leaf lobed. 

i. Oaks. The bark of the older trees is rough ; the fruit, 
or acorn, is similar in all kinds of oaks, consisting 
of a scaly cup and a leathery smooth berry or nut 
containing the fleshy seed. There are three distinct 
groups of oaks : the white oaks, red oaks (includ- 
ing the so-called black oaks) and the live oaks. In 
the different kinds of red and white oaks the leaves 
vary considerably in size and shape ; some are large 
and much lobed, others small and almost or entirely 
without lobes, so that a part of the oaks might well 
be treated under another group. 

The following scheme helps to separate the principal 
groups of oaks. 

(1) Leaves with bristlelike tips on their lobes, or at 
their tips if entire : red oaks. 

(a) Leaves large, much lobed : o'ed, scarlet, black, 

and Spaiiish oaks (Fig. 94,^). 

(b) Leaves broad, little lobed: hlack jack and 

water oaks. 

(c) Leaves mostly entire, narrow, pointed, bristle- 

tipped : willow, laurel, and s/uN(/le oak 
(Fig. 94, C). 






Fig. 94. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, 
but Lobed Leaves 

A, red oak ; B, white oak ; C, willow oak ; D, live oak (tliis latter really belongs 
in the next group of trees, if classed by its leaves). {A, C, and D after 
Dippel; B from Britton and Brown's "Illustrated Flora of the United 
States and Canada ") 

249 



250 FIUST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

(2) Leaves large, lobed, the tip of the lobes rounded 

and not pointed or bristle-tipped : whiter bur, 
a.\id 2)ost oak (Fig. 94, B). 

(3) Leaves crenate or toothed, resembling those of 

chestnut : chestnut oaks, including the cow oak 
(Fig. 95, J). 

(4) Leaves small, rounded, leathery, and evergreen : live 

oaks (Fig. 94, D). Really belonging to group 3. 

j. Tulip or Yelloiv Poplar. A rough-barked tree with a 
leaf so peculiar in shape (Fig. 95, C) that it is 
never mistaken for any other. The flower resembles 
a tulip, is green and yellow ; the fruit is a cone 
which persists all through winter. 

k. Sweet or Red Gum. Trees with long-stalked, five- 
lobed, finely toothed leaves and rough, long-stalked 
little balls for fruit. The fruit persists a long time 
after ripening, so that it may be seen all winter 
(Fig. 95, D). 

I. Sassafras. Trees with large entire edged leaves, most 
of which have one large lobe, giving them some- 
what the shape of a mitten, while some leaves 
have two lobes and some have none. Fruit a blue 
berry ripening in summer (Fig. 95, B). 

3. The edge of the leaf neither lobed nor toothed. 

ui. Magnolias, including the Cucumber Tree. Leaves very 
large (often more than twelve inches long) ; flowers 
large and showy; fruit a soft-scaled cone (Fig. 96, A). 

n. Tupelo ; Black or Sour Gums. Trees of the swamps, 
chiefly of the South, with bluish or blackish berries, 
each containing a stone or pit. In the cotton gum, 
or large tupelo, some of the leaves have one or a 
few irregularly disposed notches (Fig. 96, B). 







Fig. 95. Broad-Leaved Trees with Simple, Alternate, 
but Lobed Leaves 

A, chinquapin oak; B, sassafras; C, tulip poplar: cones persist all winter; D, 
sweet gum : fruit persists. (A after Dippel ; B, C, and D from Britton and 
Brown's " Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada ") 

251 







C . D 

Fig. 96. Leaves Simple, Alternate, but with Entire Edge, 
and Trees with Opposite Leaves 

A, magnolia : B, tupelo, or sour gum ; C, catalpa : leaves Avith edges entire, fruit 
a long pod : T), sugar maple : leaves lobed, fruit two-pronged, winged. (From 
Britton and Brown's " Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada ") 

252 







f D 



Fig. 97. Compound Leaves, but Alternate 

Af honey locust : with large thorns and large pods ; B, blac^k locust (Robinia) : 
small pods and thorns ; C, butternut ; D, hickory. (A, B, and C from Bi-itton 
and Brown's " Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada" ; D after 
Dippel) 

253 



254 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

B. Leaves opposite or in pairs. 

a. Majiles. Rough-barked trees, with five-lobed, notched 

or toothed leaves, and a peculiarly shaped winged 
twin-fruit, which is so persistent that it may serve 
in most cases to identify the tree (Fig. 96, D). 

b. Catalpa or Indian Bean. Leaves large, entire (occa- 

sionally three-lobed) ; flowers in large clusters, very 
showy ; fruit a long (twelve inches and more) 
brown pod, resembling that of the bean (Fig. 96, C). 



II. Leaves compound, or made up of several leaflets. 

A. Leaf feather-shaped, the leaflets arranged on two sides of 
a straight stem (Fig. 97, A). 

1. Leaves alternate. 

a. The edge of the leaflets entire, i.e., not toothed. 

Locusts (Fig. 97, A and B). Of these, the honey 
locust has large thorns and broad brown pods six 
to ten inches long ; and the black locust, or Bobinia, 
has practically no thorns, and small pods two to 
three inches in length. 

b. The edge of the leaflets toothed. 

Walnuts and Hickories, including Tecan. In the 
walnut, black walnut, and white walnut, or butter- 
nut, there are usually thirteen to twenty-three leaf- 
lets to one leaf and the husk of the nut does not 
split open along definite lines ; in the hickories, 
including the pecan, the husk opens along well- 
defined lines and the number of leaflets varies 
usually from five to nine, being nine to fifteen only 
in the pecan and water hickory (Fig. 97, C and D). 






Fig. 98. Compound Leaves, 
Opposite 

A, box elder : fruit of maple ; B, white 
ash: the fruit persists all through 
winter ; compouud leaves, palmate ; 
C, buckeye, or horse-chestnut. (From 
Britton and Brown's " Illustrated 
Flora of the United States and 
Canada") 



255 



256 FIKST BOOK OF FOKESTKi' 

2. Leaves opposite. 

a. Ashes. Rough-barked trees, with the leaflets of their 
leaves entire or toothed and the singularly shaped 
winged fruit in persistent clusters (Fig. 98, B). 

h. Box Elder. This tree is really one of the maples, 
has a typical maple fruit which clings to the twigs 
all through winter, but has a compound leaf, con- 
sisting of three to five, toothed or notched leaflets 
(Fig. 98, .4). 

B. The compound leaf palmate, its leaflets arranged like the 
fingers of the hand. 

Buckeye or Horse- Chestnut, well illustrated by the 
common European horse-chestnut, whose large buds 
and large, smooth chestnut-brown nut inside of a 
prickly bur are familiar to every one (Fig. 108 C). 



How TO USE THE KeY 

It is early fall ; the leaves are still on our broad-leaved 
trees. Here is a tree ; what may be its name ? Let ns 
get a twig and examine it. It has simple, toothed leaves ; 
they are alternate (not in pairs), there is no fruit, the bark 
of the tree is dark and rough, the twigs are fough. Let 
us glance over our Key. 

Evidently it belongs to the broad-leaved trees, and to 
the first group under I, ^, 1. 

Were it beech, chestnut, sycamore, basswood, or birch, 
we should find some fruit on or under the tree. 



HOW TO DISTINGUISH TREES 257 

For poplar the bark is too dark, the twigs too dark and 
tough; so it must be either cherry or ehn. Let us cut 
into the bark and taste its inner part. Evidently it has 
no cherry-seed taste, and moreover the bark is not scaly. 
Hence we conclude it to be an elm. 

It is late in the fall, the leaves are largely shed, but 
there is no snow on the ground. Here is a rough-barked 
tree, and we would like to know its name. 

There are a few small bean pods clinging to some of 
its twigs, the tree is not thorny, and on the ground we 
find some compound leaves. Looking over our Key, we 
note that we have only two kinds of trees with bean-pod- 
like fruits, — the catalpa and the locusts. 

Having evidently had compound leaves, we decide it 
to be a locust, and since the pods are small and the 
tree is not beset wdth large thorns, it must be a black 
locust. 

Here is a cone-bearing tree. The needle-shaped leaves 
are in bundles, five leaves in one sheath. From our Key 
we see that this evergreen is evidently a pine, and that it 
belongs to the white pines. 

Here is a small evergreen with scalelike leaves ; the 
bark is " stringy," but there is no fruit either on or under 
the tree. Let us cut off one of the larger limbs ; the 
wood is reddish in the inner or heartwood portion. Going 
over our Key, we place it at once among the cedars ; and, 
finding a red heartwood in this small gnarly tree, we 



258 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



conclude it to be a red cedar, whose berries have been 
eaten by the birds so that we could not find any friut. 

In this way some practice will soon enable us to tell 
our common trees with ease, and we shall then be better 
prepared to learn how these different trees behave and what 
they need. Having gained this enjoyable familiarity with 
our friends, we are aljle to learn for ourselves what is 
required to make them produce the largest amount of the 
most valuable material in the shortest time and at the 
least expense. 




t:>^^ 



APPENDIX I 



THE DOYLE-SCRIBNER LOG SCALE 



Inches in 


12 Feet 


14 Feet 


16 Feet 


Inches in 


12 Feet 


14 Feet 


16 Feet 


DiAMKTER 


Long 


Long 


Long 


Diameter 


Long 


Long 


Long 


10 


27 


32 


36 


36 


768 


896 


1024 


11 


37 


43 


49 


37 


817 


953 


1089 


12 


48 


56 


64 


38 


867 


1011 


1156 


13 


61 


71 


81 


39 


910 


1070 


1225 


14 


75 


88 


100 


40 


972 


1134 


1296 


15 


91 


106 


121 


41 


1027 


1198 


1369 


16 


108 


126 


144 


42 


1083 


1264 


1444 


17 


127 


148 


169 


43 


1141 


1331 


1521 


18 


147 


171 


196 


44 


1200 


1400 


1600 


19 


169 


197 


225 


45 


1261 


1471 


1681 


20 


192 


224 


256 


46 


1323 


1544 


1764 


21 


217 


253 


289 


47 


1387 


1618 


1849 


22 


243 


283 


324 


48 


1452 


1694 


1936 


23 


271 


313 


359 


49 


1519 


1772 


2025 


24 


300 


350 


400 


50 


1587 


1850 


2116 


25 


331 


386 


441 


51 


1657 


1933 


2209 


26 


363 


423 


484 


52 


1728 


2016 


2304 


27 


397 


463 


530 


53 


1801 


2101 


2401 


28 


432 


504 


576 


54 


1875 


2187 


2500 


29 


469 


547 


625 


55 


1951 


2276 


2601 


30 


507 


591 


676 


56 


2028 


2366 


2704 


31 


547 


638 


729 


57 


2107 


2458 


2809 


32 


588 


686 


784 


58 


2187 


2551 


2916 


33 


631 


736 


841 


59 


2269 


2647 


3025 


34 


675 


787 


900 


60 


2352 


2744 


3136 


35 


721 


841 


961 











Example : If the log is 22 inches in diameter at the smaller end and is 14 feet long, 
look for 22 inches under Diameter, and you will see in the column under 14 feet 283, 
which is the number of board feet in this log. 

If the log is 18 feet long, it contains if as much as a 12-foot log. 

Logs 24 feet and over should be measured every IG feet, or fraction thereof. This 
is not generally done, but neglect to do so causes much inaccuracy. 

259 



APPENDIX II 



TABLE OF CIRCLES 



Inches in 
Diameter 


Area in 

Square 

Feet 


Inches in 
Diameter 


Area in 

Square 

Feet 


Inches in 
Diameter 


Area in 

Square 

Feet 


2 


0.022 


26 


3.68 


50 


13.63 


4 


0.087 


28 


4.27 


52 


14.74 


6 


0.196 


30 


4.90 


54 


15.90 


8 


0.349 


32 


5.58 


56 


17.10 


10 


0.545 


34 


6.30 


58 


18.34 


12 


0.785 


36 


7.06 


60 


19.63 


14 


1.069 


38 


7.87 


62 


20.96 


16 


1.396 


40 


8.72 


64 


22.34 


18 


1.767 


42 


9.62 


66 


23.75 


20 


2.181 


44 


10.55 


68 


25.22 


22 


2.639 


46 


11.54 


70 


26.72 


24 


3.141 


48 


12.56 


72 


28.67 



260 



APPENDIX III 



LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WOODS AND TREES OF 
THE UNITED STATES 

[Arranged alphabetically] 

A. — CONIFEROUS WOODS 

Woods of simple and uniform structure, generally light and soft, but 
stiff; abundant in suitable dimensions and forming by far the greatest 
part of all the lumber used. 

CEDAR. — Light, soft, stiff, not strong, of fine texture ; sap and heart 
wood distinct, the former lighter, the latter a dull grayish brown, or 
red. The wood seasons rapidly, shrinks and checks but little, and is 
very durable. Used like soft pine, but owing to its great durability 
preferred for shingles, etc. Small sizes used for posts, ties, etc.^ Cedars 
usually occur scattered, but they form, in certain localities, forests of 
considerable extent. 
a. White cedars. — Heartwood a light grayish brown. 

The Arbor Yit.es and Incense Cedar 

1. White cedar (Thuja occidentalis) (arbor vitfe) : Scattered along 

streams and lakes, frequently covering extensive swamps ; rarely 
large enough for lumber, but commonly used for posts, ties, etc. 
Maine to Minnesota and northward. 

2. Canoe cedar (Thuja gigantea) (usually called red cedar in the 

West): In Oregon and Washington a very large tree, covering 

1 Since almost all kinds of woods are used for fuel and charcoal, and in the construction 
of fences, sheds, barns, etc., the enumeration of these uses has been omitted in this list, 

261 



262 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

extensive areas ; in the mountains smaller, skirting the water 
courses ; an important lumber tree. Washington to northern 
California and eastward to ]\Iontana. 

3. White cedar (Libocedrns derurrens) (incense cedar) : A large tree, 

abundantly scattered among pine and fir ; wood fine grained. 
Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains of Oregon and California. 

The White Cedars Proper 

4. White cedar (^CJiamcecyparis tJiyoides) (often called juniper) : 

Medium-sized tree; wood very light and soft. Along the coast 
from Maine to Mississippi. 

5. White cedar (^Chamcecyparis lawsoniana) (Port Orford cedar, 

Oregon cedar, Lawson's cypress, ginger pine) : A very large tree, 
extensively cut for lumber ; heavier and stronger than the pre- 
ceding. Along the coast line of Oregon. 

6. Yellow or Alaska cedar (Chamcecyparis nootkatensis): Medium- 

to large-sized tree. Mountains of Washington, coast from Puget 
Sound northwards. 

6. Red cedars. — Heartwood red. 

1. Red cedar {Juniperus virginiana) (Savin juniper) : Similar to 

white cedar, but of somewhat finer texture. Used in cabinet- 
work, in cooperage, for veneers, and especially for lead pencils, 
for which purpose alone several million feet are cut each year. A 
small- to medium-sized tree scattered through the forests, or, in 
the West, sparsely covering extensive areas (cedar brakes). The 
red cedar is the most widely distributed conifer of the United 
States, occurring from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
Florida to Minnesota, but attains a suitable size for lumber only 
in the Southern, and more especially the Gulf States. 

2. Redwood {Sequoia sempervirens) : Wood in its quality and uses 

like white cedar; the narrow sapwood whitish; the heartwood 
light red, soon turning to brownish red when exposed. A very 
large tree, limited to the coast ranges of California, and forming 
considerable forests, which are rapidly being converted into 
lumber. 



Ai^rEXDix III 263 

CYPRESS. 

Cypress (Taxot/im/i r/istic/nnu^ (bald cypress; black, white, and red 
cypress) : Wood in appearance, qnality, and uses similar to white 
cedar. "Black cypress" and " white cypress " are dark and light 
forms of the same species. The cypress is a large deciduous tree, 
occupying much of the swamp and overflow land along the coast 
and rivers of the Southern States. 

FIR. — This name is frequently applied to wood and to trees which are 
not fir ; most commonly to spruce, but also, especially in English 
markets, to pine. It resembles spruce, but is easily distinguished from 
it, as well as from pine and larch, by the absence of resin ducts. 
Quality, uses, and habits similar to spruce. The trees furnishing this 
wood are generally called balsams. 

1. Balsam (Abies h(dsumea) : A medium-sized tree, scattered throughout 

the northern pineries ; cut, in lumber operations whenever of 
sufficient size, and sold with pine or spruce. Minnesota to Maine 
and northward. 

2. Balsam or white fir (.Ji/e.v grantlis and Abies concolor) : Medium- 

to very large-sized tree, forming an important j^art of some of the 
western mountain forests. The former occurs from Vancouver 
to central California and eastw^ard to Montana ; the latter from 
Oregon to Arizona and eastward to Colorado and Xew Mexico. 

3. Mountain balsam (Abies amabilis) : Good-sized tree, often forming 

extensive mountain forests. Cascade Mountains of Washington 
and Oregon. 

4. Balsam or white fir (Abies nobilis) (sometimes called red Jir ; not 

to be confounded with Douglas fir or red fir) : Large to very large 
tree ; occurs with A . amabilis in the forests on the slope of the 
mountains between three thousand and four thousand feet eleva- 
tion. Cascade Mountains of Oregon. 

5. Balsam or white fir (Abies magnijicci) : Very large tree, in forests 

about the base of Mount Shasta. Sierra Nevada Mountains of 
California, from Mount Shasta southward. 

HEMLOCK. — Light to medium weight, soft, stiff but brittle, commonly 
crossgrained, rough, and splintery ; sapwood and heartwood not well 



264 FIKST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

defined; the ANoud t>t' a liglit reddish gray color, free from rosin ducts, 
moderately durable, shrinks and warps considerably, wears rough, 
retains nails firmly. Used principally for dimension stuff and timbers. 
Hemlocks are medium- to large-sized trees, commonly scattered among 
broad-leaved trees and conifers, but often forming forests of almost 
pure groM'th, 

1. Hkmj.ock (Tsuga canadeyisis) : medinm-sized tree ; furnishes almost 

all the hemlock of the eastern market. INIaine to Wisconsin ; 
also following the Alleghenies southward to Georgia and Alabama. 

2. Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana^ : Large-sized tree; wood claimed to 

be heavier and harder than the eastern form and of superior 
quality. Washington to California and eastward to Montana. 

LARCH or TAMARACK. — Wood similar to hard pine in appearance, 
quality, and uses, and, owing to its durability, used in shipbuilding, 
and for telegraph poles and railroad ties. Our eastern tamarack is not 
fully appreciated ; the western form is used extensively as ordinary 
lumber. In its structure it resembles spruce. The larches are decidu- 
ous trees, occasionally covering considerable areas, but usually scattered 
among other conifers. 

1. Tamarack (Larix laricina) (hackmatack) : Medium-sized tree, 

often covering swamps. Maine to Minnesota, and southward to 
Pennsylvania. 

2. Tamarack (Larix occidentalis) : Large-sized treevS, scattered, locally 

abundant. Washington and Oregon to Montana. 

PINE. — Very variable, very light and soft in " soft " pine, such as white 
pine ; of medium weight to heavy, and quite hard in " hard " pine, of 
which longleaf or Georgia pine is the extreme form. Usually it is stiif, 
very strong, of even texture, and more or less resinous. The sapwood 
is yellowish white ; the heartwood, orange brown. Pine shrinks 
moderately, seasons rax)idly and without much injury ; it works easily ; 
is never too hard to nail (unlike oak or hickory) ; it is mostly quite 
durable and, if well seasoned, is not subject to the attacks of boring 
insects. The heavier the wood, the darker, stronger, and harder it is, 
and the more it shrinks and checks. Pine is used more extensively 
than any other kind of wood. It is the principal wood in common 



APPENDIX III 265 

carpentry, as well as in all heavy construction, — bridges, trestles, etc. 
It is also used in almost every other wood industry : for spars, masts, 
planks, and timbers in shipbuilding, in car and wagon construction, 
in cooperage, for crates and boxes, in furniture work, for toys and 
patterns, railway ties, water pipes, excelsior, etc. Pines are usually 
large trees with few branches, the straight, cylindrical, useful stem 
forming by far the greatest part of the tree ; they occur gregariously, 
forming vast forests, a fact which greatly facilitates their exploitation. 
Of the many special terms applied to pine as lumber, denoting some- 
times differences in quality, the following deserve attention : 

"White pine," " pumpkin pine," "soft pine," in the eastern markets 
refer to the wood of the white pine (^Pinus strobus) ; on the 
Pacific coast to that of the sugar pine (Pinus lamhertiand), and in 
the northern Rockies to the white pine (Pinus monticola). 
" Yellow pine " is applied in the trade to all the southern lumber 
pines ; in the Northeast it is also applied to the pitch pine {Pinus 
rigidci) ; in the AVest it refers mostly to Pinus ponderosa. 
" Yellow longieaf pine," " Georgia pine," chiefly used in advertise- 
ment, refers to longieaf pine (Pinus palustris). 
" Hard ]3ine " is a common term in carpentry, and applies to every- 
thing except white pine. 
" Pitch pine " includes all southern pines and also the true pitch pine 
(Pinus rigidd), but is mostly applied, especially in foreign markets, 
to the wood of the longieaf pine (Pinus palustris). 

a. Soft pines. 

1. White pine (Pinus strobus) : Large- to very large-sized tree ; for 

the last fifty years the most important timber tree of the Union, 
fm-nishing the best quality of soft pine. Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Michigan, New England, and along the Alleghenies to Georgia. 

2. Sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) : A very large important lumber 

tree. Oregon and California. 

3. White pine (Pinus monticola) : A large tree, at home in Montana, 

Idaho, and the Pacific States. 

4. White pine (Pinus fexilis) : A small tree, scattered in the 

mountain forests of the eastern Rocky Mountain slopes, Mon- 
tana to New Mexico. 



266 FIRST BOOK OF FOFvESTKY 

b. Hard pines. 

1. LoNGLEAF PINE (Puius palustris) (Georgia i>ine, yellow pine, long 

straw pine, etc.) : Large tree ; forms extensive forests and fur- 
nishes the hardest and strongest pine lumber in the market. 
Coast region from North Carolina to Texas. 

2. Yellow pine (Pimis ponderosa) : Medium- to very large-sized 

tree, forming extensive forests in the Pacific and Rocky Mountain 
regions ; furnishes most of the hard pine of the West ; sapwood 
wide ; wood very variable. 

3. Loblolly pine (Pinus tceda) (shortleaf pine, old field pine, rose- 

mary ]3ine, sap pine, etc.) : Large-sized tree, forms extensive 
forests ; wider ringed, coarser, lighter, softer, with more sapwood 
than the longleaf pine, but the tw-o often confounded. This is 
the common lumber pine from Virginia to South Carolina, and 
is found extensively in Arkansas and Texas. Southern States 
and Virginia to Texas and Arkansas. 

4. Norway pine {Pinus resinosa) : Large-sized tree, usually scattered 

or in small groves, together with white pine ; largely sapwood 
and hence not durable. Minnesota to Michigan, also New 
England to Pennsylvania. 

5. Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) (North Carolina pine, yellow 

pine, etc.) : Resembles loblolly pine ; often approaches in its 
wood the Norway pine. The common lumber j^ine of Missom'i 
and Arkansas. North Carolina to Texas and Missouri. 

6. Cuban pine (Pinus cuhensis) (slash pine) : Resembles longleaf 

pine, but commonly has wdder sapwood and coarser grain ; does 
not enter the markets to any great extent. Along the coast from 
South Carolina to Louisiana. 

7. Bull pine (Pinus jeffreyi) (black })ine) : Large-sized tree, tree 

and wood resembling yellow pine (Pinus jxmderosa^ ; used locally 
in California, replacing Pinus ponderosa at high altitudes. 
The following are small- to medium-sized pines known generally as 

Jack pines, not commonly offered as lumber in the market ; used locally 

for timber, ties, etc. : 

8. Jack pine (Pinus rnurrayana) (lodge-pole pine, black ]>ine, white 

pine, tamarack) : Rocky Mountains and Pacific regions. 



APPENDIX III 267 

9. Pitch pine (Phius rigldo) : Along the coast from New York to 
Georgia and along the mountains to Kentucky. 

10. Scrub, jack, or Jersey pine (Pinus virginiand) (scrub pine) : As 

before. 

11. Jack pine (Pinus divaricata) (scrub i:)ine) : Maine, Vermont, and 

Michigan to Minnesota. 

REDWOOD. (See Cedar.) 

SPRUCE. — Resembles soft pine, is light, soft, stiff, moderately strong, less 
resinous than pine ; has no distinct heartwood, and is of whitish color. 
Used like soft pine, but also employed as resonance wood and preferred 
for paper pulp. Spruces, like pines, form extensive forests ; they are 
more frugal, thrive on thinner soils, and bear more shade, but usually 
require a more humid and colder climate. 

1. Red or black spruce (Picea mariand) : Medium-sized tree ; forms 

extensive forests in northeastern United States and in British 
America; occurs scattered or in groves, especially in low lands 
throughout the northern pineries. Important lumber tree in 
eastern United States. Maine to Minnesota, British America, 
and on the AUeghenies to North Carolina. 

2. White spruce (Picea canadensis) : Generally associated with the 

preceding ; grows largest in Montana and forms the most impor- 
tant tree of the subarctic forest of British America. Northern 
United States, from Maine to Minnesota, also from Montana to 
Pacific, British America. 

3. White spruce (Picea engelmanni) : Medium- to large-sized tree, 

forming extensive forests at elevations from five thousand to ten 
thousand feet above sea level ; resembles the i^receding, but occu- 
pies a different station. The common spruce of the Rocky Moun- 
tains and Cascades. 

4. Tide-land spruce (Picea sitchensis) : A large-sized tree, common 

in the coast-belt forest. Along the seaeoast from Alaska to 
central California. 

RED FIR or DOUGLAS SPRUCE. — Spruce or fir in name, but resembling 
hard pine or larch in the appearance, quality, and uses of its wood. 



268 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

Red fir {Pseudotsuga douglam) (yellow fir, Oregon pine, Douglas 
spruce) : The most important tree of the western United States ; 
grows very large in the Pacific States, to fair size in all parts of 
the mountains, in Colorado up to about ten thousand feet above sea 
level ; forms extensive forests, often of pure growth. Wood very 
variable, usually coarse grained and heavy, with very pronounced 
summer wood, hard and strong (" red " fir), but often fine grained 
and lighter (" yellow " fir). Tt replaces hard pine and is especially 
suited to heavy construction. From the plains to the Pacific Ocean 
and from Mexico to British America. 

TAMARACK. {See Larch.) 

YEW. — AVood heavy, hard, extremely stiff and strong, of fine texture, 
with a pale yellow sapwood, and an orange red heart; seasons well, and is 
quite durable. Yew is extensively used for archery, bows, turner's ware, 
etc. The yews form no forests, but occur scattered with other conifers. 

Yew (Taxus brevifolia) : A small- to medium-sized tree of the Pacific 
region. 

B. — BROAD-LEAVED WOODS (Hardwoods) 

Woods of complex and very variable structure and therefore differing 
widely in quality, behavior, and consequently in applicability to the arts. 

ASH. — Wood heavy, hard, strong, stiff, quite tough, not durable in con- 
tact with soil, straight grained, rough on the split surface, and coarse in 
texture. The wood shrinks moderately, seasons with little injury, and 
stands well. In carpentry ash is used for finishing lumber, stairways, 
panels, etc. ; it is used in shipbuilding, in the construction of cars, 
wagons, carriages, etc., in the manufacture of farm implements, 
machinery, and especially of furniture of all kinds, and also for har- 
ness work ; for barrels, baskets, oars, tool handles, hoops, clothespins, 
and toys. The trees of the several species of ash are rapid growers, of 
small to medium height, with stout trunks ; they form no forests, but 
occur scattered in almost all our broad-leaved forests. 

1. White ash (Fraxinus americana) : Medium-, sometimes large-sized 
tree. Basin of the Ohio, but found from Maine to Minnesota and 
Texas. 



APPENDIX III 269 

2. Red ASH (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) : Small-sized tree. North Atlantic 

States, but extends to the Mississippi. 

3. Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) (hoop ash, ground ash) : Medium-sized 

tree, very common. Maine to Minnesota, and southward to 
Virginia and Arkansas. 

4. Blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata) : Small- to medium-sized. 

Indiana and Illinois; occurs from Michigan to Minnesota and 
southward to Alabama. 

5. Green ash (Fraxinus lanceolata) : Small-sized tree. New York to 

the Rocky Mountains, and southward to Florida and Arizona. 

6. Oregon ash (Fraxinus oregana) : Medium-sized tree. Western 

Washington to California. 
ASPEN. (See Poplar.) 

BASSWOOD. 

1. Basswood (Tilia americana) (lime tree, American linden, lin, bee 

tree) : Wood light, soft, stiff but not strong, of fine texture, and 
white to light brown color. The wood shrinks considerably in 
drying, works and stands well; it is used in carpentry, in the 
manufacture of furniture and wooden ware, both turned and carved, 
in cooperage, for toys, also for panehng of car and carriage bodies. 
Medium- to large-sized tree, common in all northern broad-leaved 
forests ; found throughout the eastern United States. 

2. White basswood (Tilia heterophylla) : A small-sized tree, most 

abundant in the Allegheny region. 
BEECH. 

Beech (Fagus americana) : Wood heavy, hard, stiff, strong, of rather 
coarse texture, white to light brown, not durable in the ground, 
and subject to the inroads of boring insects ; it shrinks and checks 
considerably in drying, works well and wears smooth. Used for 
furniture, in turnery, for handles, plane stocks, lasts, etc. Abroad 
it is very extensively employed by the carpenter, millwriglit, and 
wagon maker, in turnery as well as wood carving. The beech is 
a medium-sized tree, common, sometimes forming forest; most 
abundant in the Ohio and Mississippi basin, but found from 
Maine to Wisconsin and southward to Florida. 



270 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

BIRCH. — Wood heavy, hard, strong, of fine texture ; sapwood whitish, 
heartwood in shades of brown with red and yellow ; very handsome, 
with satiny luster, equaling cherry. The wood shrinks considerably in 
drying, works and stands well, and takes a good polish, but is not 
durable if exposed. Birch is used for finishing lumber in building, 
in the manufacture of furniture, in wood turnery for spools, boxes, 
wooden shoes, etc., for shoe lasts and pegs, for wagon hubs, ox yokes, 
etc., also in wood carving. The birches are medium-sized trees, form 
extensive forests northward, and occur scattered in most of the broad- 
leaved forests of the eastern United States. 

1. Cherry birch (Betida lento) (black birch, sweet birch, mahogany 

birch) : Medium-sized tree ; not common. Maine to Michigan 
and to Tennessee. 

2. Yellow birch {Betula luteci) (gray birch) : Medium-sized tree ; 

the common birch of the market. Maine to Minnesota and south- 
ward to Tennessee. 

3. Red birch (^Betula nigra) (river birch) : Small- to medium-sized 

tree ; very common ; lighter and less valuable than the preceding. 
New England to Texas and Missouri. 

4. White or paper birch (^Betula papyrifera) : Generally a small tree ; 

common, forming forests ; wood of good quality but lighter. All 
along the northern boundary of United States and northward, from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

BLACK WALNUT. {See Walnut.) 

BLUE BEECH. 

Blue beech (Carpinus caroJiniana) (hornbeam, water beech, iron- 
wood) : Wood very heavy, hard, strong, very stiff, of rather fine 
texture and white color ; not durable in the ground ; shrinks and 
checks greatly, but works and stands well. Used chiefly in 
turnery for tool handles, etc. Abroad much used by millwrights 
and wheelwrights. A small tree, largest in the Southwest, but 
found in nearly all parts of the eastern United States. 

BOIS D'ARC. {See Osage orange.) 

BUCKEYE — HORSE-CHESTNUT. — Wood light, soft, not strong, often 
quite tough, of fine and uniform texture and creamy white color. It 



APPENDIX III 271 

shrinks considerably, but works and stands well. Used for wooden ware, 
artificial limbs, paper pulp, and locally also for building lumber. Small- 
sized trees, scattered. 

1. Ohio buckeye (.Esculus r/labra) (fetid buckeye) : Alleghenies, 

Pennsylvania to Indian Territory. 

2. Sweet buckeye (^E.sculus octandra) : Alleghenies, Pennsylvania to 

Texas. 

BUTTERNUT. 

Butternut (Juglans cinerea) (white walnut) : Wood very similar to 
black walnut, but of light brown color. Used chiefly for finishing 
lumber, cabinetwork, and cooperage. Medium-sized tree, largest 
and most common in the Ohio basin; Maine to Minnesota and 
southward to Georgia and Alabama. 

CATALPA. 

Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) : Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, 
durable, of coarse texture and brown color ; used for ties and 
posts, but well suited for a great variety of uses. Medium-sized 
tree ; lower basin of the Ohio River, locally common. Extensively 
planted, and therefore promising to become of some importance. 

CHERRY. 

Cherry {Prunus serotina) : Wood heavy, hard, strong, of fine texture ; 
sapwood yellowish white, heartwood reddish to brown. The wood 
shrinks considerably in drying, works and stands well, takes a 
good polish, and is much esteemed for its beauty. Cherry is 
chiefly used as a decorative finishing lumber for buildings, cars, 
and boats, also for furniture and in turnery. It is becoming too 
costly for many purposes for which it is naturally well suited. 
The lumber-furnishing cherry of this country, the wild black 
cherry (Prunus serotina), is a small- to medium-sized tree, scattered 
through many of the broad-leaved woods of the eastern United 
States. Other species of this genus as well as the hawthorns 
(Crataegus) and wild apple (Pyrus) are not commonly offered in 
the market. Their wood is of the same character as cherry, often 
even finer, but in small dimensions. 



272 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 

CHESTNUT. 

1. Chestnut (Castanea dentata) : Wood light, moderately soft, stiff, 

not strong, of coarse texture ; the sapwood light, the heartwood 
darker brown. It shrinks and checks considerably in drying, works 
easily, stands well, and is very durable. Used in cabinetwork, 
cooperage, for railway ties, telegraph poles, and locally in heavy 
construction. Medium- to large-sized tree, very common in the 
Alleghenies, occurs from Maine to Michigan and southward to 
Alabama. 

2. Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) : A small-sized tree, with wood 

slightly heavier but otherwise similar to the preceding; most 
common in Arkansas, but with nearly the same range as the 
chestnut. 

3. Chinquapin (Casfanopsis chrysophijlki) : A medium-sized tree of the 

western ranges of California and Oregon. 

COFFEE TREE. 

Coffee tree (Gynmocladus dioica) (coffee nut) : Wood heavy, hard, 
strong, very stiff, of coarse texture, durable ; the sapwood yellow, 
the heartwood reddish brown ; shrinks and checks considerably in 
drying ; works and stands well and takes a good polish. It is 
used to a limited extent in cabinetwork. A medium- to large- 
sized tree ; not common. Pennsylvania to Minnesota and Arkansas. 

COTTONWOOD. (See Poplar.) 

CUCUMBER TREE. (See Tulip.) 

ELM. — Wood heavy, hard, strong, very tough ; moderately durable in 
contact with the soil ; commonly crossgrained, difficult to split and 
shape, warps and checks considerably in drying, but stands well if 
properly handled. The broad sapwood whitish, heart brown, both 
with shades of gray and red ; on split surface rough ; texture coarse 
to fine; capable of high polish. Used in the construction of cars, 
wagons, etc., in boat and ship building, for agricultural implements and 
machinery; in rough cooperage, saddlery and harness work, but par- 
ticularly in the manufacture of all kinds of furniture, where the 
beautiful figures, especially those of the tangential or bastard section, 
are just beginning to be duly appreciated. The elms are medium- to 



AIM/E^'DIX 111 273 

large-sized trees, of fairly rapid growth, \vith stout trunk, form no 
forests of pure growth, but are found scattered in all the broad-leaved 
w^oods of our country, sometimes forming a considerable portion of the 
arboreal growth. 

1. White elm (Ulmus americand) (American elm, waterelm) : Medium- 

to large-sized tree, common. Maine to Minnesota and southward 
to Florida and Texas. 

2. Rock elm (Ulmus racemosa) (cork elm, hickory elm, white elm. cliff 

elm) : Medium- to large-sized tree. Michigan, Ohio, from Ver- 
mont to Iowa and southw ard to Kentucky. 

3. Red elm (Ulmus fulva) (slippery elm, moose elm) : Small -sized tree, 

found chiefly along water courses. New York to Minnesota and 
southward to Florida and Texas. 

4. Cedar elm (Ulmus crassifoUa) : Small-sized tree, quite common. 

Arkansas and Texas. 

5. Winged elm {Ulmus alata) (wahoo) : Small-sized tree, locally quite 

common. Arkansas, Missouri, and eastward to Virginia. 
GUM. — This general term refers to two kinds of wood usually distinguished 
as sweet or red f/iun, and sour, black, or tupelo gum, the former being 
a relative of the witch-hazel, the latter belonging to the dogwood 
family. 

1. Tupelo (Xyssa sylvaticd) (sour gum, black gum) : AVood heavy, hard, 

strong, tough, of fine texture, frequently crossgrained, of yellowish 
or grayish white color, hard to split and work, troublesome in 
seasoning, warps and checks considerably, and is not durable if 
exposed ; used for w^agon hubs, wooden ware, handles, wooden 
shoes, etc. Medium- to large-sized trees, with straight, clear 
trunks ; locally quite abundant, but never forming forests of pure 
growth. Maine to Michigan and southward to Florida and 
Texas. 

2. Tupelo gum {Nyssa aquatica) (cotton gum) : Lower Mississippi 

basin, northward to Illinois and eastward to Virginia, otherwise 
like preceding species. 

3. Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) (red gum, liquidambar, bilsted) : 

Wood of medium weight, rather soft, quite stiff and strong, tough, 



274 FIRST BOOK OF FOKESTUY 

commonly crossgrained, of fine texture ; the broad sapwood whitish, 
the heartvvood reddish brown : tlie wood shrinks and warps con- 
siderably, but does not check badly, stands well when fully seasoned, 
and takes good polish. Used in carpentry, in the manufacture of 
furniture, for cut veneer, for wooden plates, plaques, baskets, etc., 
also for wagon hubs, hat blocks, etc. A large-sized tree, very 
abundant, often the principal tree in the swampy parts of the 
bottoms of the lower Mississippi valley; occurs from New York 
to Texas and from Indiana to Florida. 

HACKBERRY. 

Hackberry (^('eltis occidental^) (sugar berry): The handsome wood 
heavy, hard, strong, quite tough, of moderately fine texture, and 
greenish or yellowish white color ; shrinks moderately, works well, 
and takes a good polish. So far but little used in the manufacture 
of furniture. Medium- to large-sized tree, locally quite common, 
largest in the lower Mississippi valley. Occurs in nearly all parts 
of the eastern United States. 

HICKORY. — Wood very heavy, hard, and strong, proverbially tough, of 
rather coarse texture, smooth and of straight grain. The broad sap- 
wood white, the heart reddish nut-brown. It dries slowly, shrinks and 
checks considerably ; is not durable in the ground or if exposed, and, 
especially the sapwood, is always subject to the inroads of boring insects. 
Hickory excels as carriage and wagon stock, but is also extensively used 
in the manufacture of implements and machinery, for tool handles, 
timber pins, for harness work, and cooperage. The hickories are tall 
trees with slender stems, never form forests, occasionally small groves, 
but usually occur scattered among other broad-leaved trees in suitable 
localities. The following species all contribute more or less to the 
hickory of the markets : 

1. Shagbark HICKORY (iy/cona oi-a^a) (shellbark hickory) : A medium- 

to large-sized tree, quite common; the favorite among hickories. 
Best developed in the Ohio and Mississippi basins; from Lake 
Ontario to Texas and west to Minnesota. 

2. Mocker nut hickory (Hicoria alha) (black hickory, bull and black 

nut, big bud, and white-heart hickory) : A medium- to large-sized 



APPENDIX 111 27-J 

tree, with the same range as the foregoing ; common, especially in 
the South. 

3. Pignut hickory (Hicoria rjlahra) (brown hickory, black hickory, 

switch-bud hickory) : Medium- to large-sized tree, abundant. All 
eastern United States. 

4. Bitter nut hickory (Hicoria minima) (swamp hickory) : A medium- 

sized tree, favoring wet localities, with the same range as the 
preceding. 

5. Pecan (Hicoria ])ecan) (Illinois nut) : A large tree, very common 

in the fertile bottoms of the western streams. Indiana to 
Nebraska and southward to Louisiana and Texas, 
HOLLY. 

Holly (Ilex opaca) : "Wood of medium weight, hard, strong, tough, of 
fine texture and white color ; works and stands well. Used for 
cabinetwork and turnery. A small tree. Most abundant in the 
lower Mississij)pi valley Gulf States, but occurring eastward to 
Massachusetts and north to Indiana. 

HORSE-CHESTNUT, (See Buckeye.) 

IRONWOOD. (See Blue beech.) 

LOCUST. — This name applies to both of the following: 

1. Black locust (Rohinia pseudacacia) (yellow locust) : Wood very 

heavy, hard, strong, and tough, of coarse texture, very dm^able in 
contact with the soil, shrinks considerably and suffers in season- 
ing ; the very narrow sapwood yellowish, the heartwood brown, 
wdth shades of red and green. Used for wagon hubs, tree nails 
or pins, but especially for ties, posts, etc. Abroad it is much used 
for furniture and farm implements and also in turnery. Small- 
to medium-sized tree. At home in the Alleghenies : extensivelv 
planted, especially in the West. 

2. Honey locust (Gleditschia triacanthos) (sweet locust, thi'ee-t horned 

acacia) : Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, of coarse textui-e, sus- 
ceptible of a good polish, the narrow sapwood yellowy the heart- 
wood brownish red. So far, but little appreciated except for 
fencing and fuel ; used to some extent for wagon hubs and in 



276 FIliST BOOK OF FOKESTEY 

rough constructiou. A medium-sized tree. Found from Pennsyl- 
vania to Nebraska and southward to Florida and Texas ; locally 
quite abundant. 

MAGNOLIA. (See Tulip.) 

MAPLE. — Wood heavy, hard, strong, stiff, and tough, of fine texture, fre- 
quently wavy grained, this giving rise to " curly " and " blister " figures ; 
not durable in the ground or otherwise exposed. Maple is creamy 
white, with shades of light brown in the heart; shrinks moderately, 
seasons, works and stands well, wears smoothly, and takes a fine polish. 
Used for ceiling, flooring, paneling, stairway, and other finishing 
lumber in house, ship, and car construction ; also for the keels of boats 
and ships, in the manufacture of implements and machinery, but espe- 
cially for furniture, where entire chamber sets of maple rival those of 
oak. Maple is also used for shoe lasts and other form blocks, for shoe 
pegs, for piano actions, school apparatus, for wood type in show-bill 
printing, tool handles, in wood carving, turnery, and scroll work. The 
maples are medium-sized trees, of fairly rapid growth ; sometimes form 
forests and frequently constitute a large proportion of the arboreal growth. 

1. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) (hard maple, rock maple): Medium- 

to large-sized tree, very common, forms considerable forests. 
Maine to Minnesota and southward to northern Florida; most 
abundant in the region of the Great Lakes. 

2. Red maple (Acer ruhrum) (swamp or water maple) : Medium-sized 

tree ; like the preceding, but scattered along water courses and 
other moist localities. 

3. Silver maple (Acer saccharinum') (soft maple, silver maple) : 

Medium-sized, common ; wood lighter, softer, inferior to hard 
maple. Valley of the Ohio, but occurs from Maine to Dakota 
and southward to Florida. 

4. Broad-leaved maple (Acer macrophylluni) : Medium-sized tree, 

forms considerable forests, and like the preceding has a lighter, 
softer, and less valuable wood. Pacific coast. 

MULBERRY. 

Red mulberry (Morus rubra) : Wood moderately heavy, hard, strong, 
rather tough, of coarse texture, durable ; sapwood whitish, heart 



APPENDIX 111 277 

yellow to orange brown ; shrinks and checks considerably in 
drying. Used in cooperage and locally in shipbuilding and in 
the manufacture of farm implements. A small-sized tree, common 
in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, but widely distributed in the 
eastern United States. 

OAK. — Wood very variable, usually very heavy and hard, very strong and 
tough, porous, and of coarse texture ; the sapwood whitish, the heart 
" oak " brown to reddish brown. It shrinks and checks badly, giving 
trouble in seasoning, but stands well, and is little subject to attacks 
of insects. Used for many purposes : in shipbuilding, for heavy 
construction, in common carpentry, in furniture, car, and wagon work, 
cooperage, turnery, and even in wood carving ; also in the manufacture 
of all kinds of farm implements, wooden mill machinery, for piles and 
wharves, railway ties, etc. The oaks are medium- to large-sized trees, 
forming the predominant part of a large portion of our broad-leaved 
forests, so that these are generally " oak forests," though they always 
contain a considerable proportion of other kinds of trees. The wood 
of three well-marked kinds, white, red, and live oak, are distin- 
guished and kept separate in the market. Of the two principal kinds 
white oak is the stronger, tougher, less porous, and more durable. 
Red oak is usually of coarser texture, more porous, often brittle, less 
durable, and even more troublesome in seasoning than white oak. In 
carpentry and furniture work red oak brings about the same price 
at present as white oak. In the forest the red oaks everywhere 
accompany the white oaks, and, like the latter, are usually represented 
by several species in any given locality. Live oak, once largely 
employed in shipbuilding, possesses all the good qualities (except that 
of size) of white oak, even to a greater degree. It is one of the 
heaviest, hardest, and most durable building timbers of this country; 
in structure it resembles the red oaks, but is much less porous. 

1. White oak (Quercus alha): Medium- to large-sized tree. Common 

throug-hout the eastern United States. 

2. Bur oak {Quercus macrocarpa) (mossy-cup oak, over-cup oak) : 

Locally abundant, common. Bottoms west of Mississippi ; range 
farther west than preceding. 



278 FIRST BOOK OF FOIIESTEY 

3. Swamp white oak (^Quercus platanoides') : Most abundant in the 

Lake States, but with range as in white oak. 

4. Yellow OAK (^Quercus prinoides) (chestnut oak, chinquapin oak): 

Southern Alleghenies and eastward to Massacliusetts. 

5. Basket oak (Quercus michauxii) (cow oak): Locally abundant. 

Lower ]\Iississippi and eastward to Delaware. 

6. Over-cup oak (Quercus lyrata^ (swamp white oak, sM^amp post 

oak) : Rather restricted ; ranges as in the j^receding. 

7. Post oak (Quercus minor^ (iron oak) : Texas to New England and 

northward to Michigan. 

8. White oak (Quercus durandii) : Medium- to small-sized tree. 

Texas, eastward to Alabama, 

9. White oak (Quercus garryand) : Medium-sized tree. Washington 

to California. 

10. White oak (Quercus lohata) : Medium-sized tree; largest oak on 

the Pacific coast. California. 

11. Red oak (Quercus rubra) (black oak) : Medium- to large-sized tree ; 

common in all parts of its range. Maine to Minnesota and south- 
ward to the Gulf. 

12. Black oak (Quercus velutina) (yellow oak) : Very common in the 

Southern States, but occurring north as far as Minnesota and 
eastward to Maine. 

13. Spanish oak (Quercus digitatd) (red oak): Common in the South 

Atlantic and Gulf region, but found from Texas to New York 
and northward to Missouri and Kentucky. 

14. Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea): Best developed in the lower 

basin of the Ohio, but found from Maine to Missouri, and from 
Minnesota to Florida. 

15. Pin oak (Quercus palustris) (swamp Spanish oak, water oak) : 

Common along borders of streams and swamps. Arkansas to 
Wisconsin and eastward to the Alleghenies, 

16. Willow oak (Quercus phellos) (peach oak): New York to Texas 

and northward to Kentucky. 

17. Water oak (Quercus nigra) (duck oak, possum oak, punk oak) : 

Medium- to large-sized tree, of extremely rapid growth. Eastern 



APPENDIX TTI 270 

Gulf States, eastward to Delaware, and northward to Missouri 
and Kentucky. 

18. Live oak (Quercus virginiand): Short- but heavy-bodied tree, scat- 

tered along the coast from Virginia to Texas. 

19. Live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) (maul oak, Valparaiso oak) : Medium- 

sized tree. California. 

OSAGE ORANGE. 

Osage orange (Tojci/lon pomiferuni) (bois d'arc) : Wood very heavy, 
exceedingly hard, strong, not tough, of moderately coarse texture, 
and very durable ; sapwood yellow, heart brown on the end, yellow 
on longitudinal faces, soon turning grayish brown if exposed; it 
shrinks considerably in drying, but once dry it stands unusually 
well. Formerly much used for wheel stock in the dry regions of 
Texas; otherwise employed for posts, railway ties, etc. Seems too 
little appreciated ; it is well suited for turned ware and especially 
for wood carving. A small-sized tree, of fairly rapid growth. 
Scattered through the rich bottoms of Arkansas and Texas. 

PERSIMMON. 

Persimmon (Diospi/ros virghiinna) : Wood very heavy and hard, strong 
and tough ; resembles hickory, but is of finer texture ; the broad 
sapwood cream color, the heart black. Used in turnery for shut- 
tles, plane stocks, shoe lasts, etc. Small-sized tree. Common 
and best developed in the lower Ohio valley, but occurs from New 
York to Texas and Missouri. 

POPLAR and COTTONWOOD (see also Tulip wood). — Wood light, very 
soft, not strong, of fine texture and whitish, grayish to yellowish color, 
usually with a satiny luster. The wood shrinks moderately (some 
crossgrained forms warp excessively), but checks little ; is easily worked, 
but is not durable. Used as building and furniture lumber, in cooper- 
age for sugar and flour barrels, for crates and boxes (especially cracker 
boxes), for wooden ware and paper pulp. 

1. Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) : Large-sized tree ; forms consider- 
able forests along many of the western streams, and furnishes most 
of the Cottonwood of the market. New England to the Rocky 
Mountains; most abundant in the Mississippi valley. 



280 FIRST BOOK OF FOFvESTIiY 

2. Balsam poplar (Popubix hdlfmrnifera) (V)alm of Gilead) : Medium- 

to large-sized tree. Common all along the northern boundary of 
the United States. 

3. Black cottonwood (^Populus trichocarpa) : The largest deciduous 

tree of Washington ; very common. Northern Rocky Mountains 
and Pacific region. 

4. Cottonwood (^Populus fremontii var. wislizeni) : Medium- to large- 

sized tree, common. Texas to California. 

5. Poplar (Populus gramlldentatd) (large-toothed aspen) : Medium- 

sized tree, chiefly used for pulp. Maine to Minnesota and south- 
ward along the Alleghenies. 

6. Aspen (Populus tremuloides) : Small- to medium-sized tree, often form- 

ing extensive forests and covering burned areas. Maine to Washing- 
ton, south in the western mountains to California and New Mexico. 

RED GUM. (See Gum.) 

SASSAFRAS. 

Sassafras (Sassafras sassafras) : Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, 
of coarse texture, durable; sapwood yellow, heart orange brown. 
Used in cooperage, for skiffs, fencing, etc. Medium-sized tree, 
largest in the lower Mississippi valley. From New England to 
Texas and from Michigan to Florida. 

SOUR GUM. (See Gum.) 
SWEET GUM. (See Gum.) 
SYCAMORE. 

1. Sycamore (Platanus occldentalis') (buttonwood, buttonball tree, water 

beech) : Wood moderately heavy, quite hard, stiff, strong, tough, 
usually crossgrained, of coarse texture, and white to light brown 
color ; the wood is hard to split and work, shrinks moderately, 
warps and checks considerably, but stands well. Used extensively 
for drawers, backs, bottoms, etc., in cabinetwork, for tobacco boxes, 
in cooperage, and also for finishing lumber, for which it has too 
long been underrated. A large tree, of rapid growth. Common 
and largest in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, at home in nearly 
all parts of the eastern United States. (The California species). 

2. Platanus i^acemosa, resembles in its wood the eastern form. 



APPENDIX III 281 

TULIP WOOD. 

1. Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipiferd) (yellow poplar, whitewood) : 

Wood quite variable in weight, usually light, soft, stiff but not 
strong, of fine texture, and yellowish color ; the wood shrinks 
considerably, but seasons without much injury ; works and stands 
remarkably well. Used for siding, for paneling and finishing 
lumber in house, car, and ship building, for sideboards and panels 
of wagons and carriages; also in the manufacture of furniture, 
implements, and machinery, for pump logs, and almost every 
kind of common wooden ware, boxes, shelving, drawers, etc. An 
ideal wood for the carver and toy man. A large tree, forming 
forests, best developed in the Ohio basin. Occurs from Xew 
England to Missouri and southward to Florida. 

2. Cucumber tree (^Magnolia acuminata) : A medium-sized tree resem- 

bling, and probably confounded with, tulip wood in the markets. 
Most common in the southern Alleghenies, but distributed from 
New York to Arkansas, southward to Alabama and northward to 
Illinois. 

TUPELO. {See Gum.) 

WALNUT. 

Black walnut (Jaglans nigra) : Wood heavy, hard, strong, of coarse 
texture ; the narrow sapwood whitish, the heartwood chocolate 
brown. The wood shrinks moderately in drying, works and 
stands well, takes a good polish, is quite handsome, and has 
been for a long time the favorite cabinet wood in this country. 
Walnut, formerly used even for fencing, has become too costly for 
ordinary uses, and is to-day employed largely as a veneer, for 
inside finish and cabinetwork ; also in turnery, for gunstocks, 
etc. Black walnut is a large tree, with stout trunk, of rapid 
growth, and was formerly quite abundant, especially in the Ohio 
valley. Occurs from New England to Texas and from Michigan 
to Florida. 

WHITE WALNUT. (See Butternut.) 
WHITEWOOD. (See Tulip, and also Basswood.) 
YELLOW POPLAR. (.See Tulip.) 



INDEX 



Acid, wood, 142 ; factory, 142. 

Age of trees and how to read it, 8 . 

Animals, protection against larger 
ones, 130; grazing animals, 131, 
178; game animals, 180; see 
Insects, 115. 

Annual or yearly rings in wood, 217. 

Artificial method of starting a young 
growth by seeding and planting, 
76 ; use of this method in our coun- 
try, 76; in Europe, 76; advantages 
of method, 77; nursery work, 
78; gathering and care of seed, 
79 ; seedlings, 85 ; planting, 87 ; 
artificial sowing of tree seeds in 
the woods, 90 ; starting of willows, 
poplars (cottonwoods, etc.), from 
cuttings, 92 ; where planting 
should be done, 92 ; method criti- 
cised, 93 ; objections, 93 ; where 
it pays and how it pays, 94. 

Ash, how to distinguish, 256 ; the 
wood, different kinds and where 
they grow, 268. 

Aspen, see Poplar, 246, 279. 

Balsam, how to distinguish the trees, 
244 ; the wood, 263 ; distribution, 
263 ; different kinds, 263. 



Bark beetles, 120. 

Basswood, how to distinguish, 246 ; 
the wood, different kinds and 
where they occur, 269. 

Beech, how to distinguish, 246 ; its 
wood and its uses, 269. 

Birch, how to distinguish the tree, 
246 ; the wood, the different kinds 
and their distribution, 270. 

Bird's-eye structure in wood, 226. 

Black walnut, see Walnut, 254,281. 

Blazes on trees, how they heal and 
what they tell, 10. 

Blue beech, 270. 

Bois d'arc, see Osage orange, 279. 

Border of the woods, 1. 

Broad-leaved trees, see Hardwoods, 
246. 

Buckeye, in the Key to different 
kinds, 256 ; its wood and occur- 
rence, 270. 

Bm-n, a tract of burned-over forest 
land, see Fire, 104, 

Business of the forest, 182 ; simple for 
small w^ood lot, increases in com- 
plexity with size, 183; requires 
survey, mapping, description ; this 
leads to forest management; the 
employment of men leads to forest 



288 



284 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



administration, 183; an orderly 
business requires forest regula- 
tion, 184. 
Butternut, in Key, 254 ; in list of 
woods, 271. 

Canopy of the woods, 1. 

Care and protection of the forest, 
97 ; need for this care, 97 ; thin- 
ning and cleaning, 98 ; see Pro- 
tection, 104. 

Catalpa, in Key, 254 ; in list of 
woods and trees, 271. 

Caterpillars, see Insects, 115. 

Cedar, how to distinguish, 244 ; 
wood of, 261 ; different kinds in 
United States, 261. 

Cellulose, see Pulp, 142. 

Cherry, in Key to trees, 248 ; in list 
of woods, 271. 

Chestnut, how to distinguish, 246 ; 
the wood, different kinds and 
where they grow, 272. 

Circles, table of, 260. 

Cleaning of trees ; how trees clean 
themselves of limbs, 16; shade 
required; helped by crowding; 
usefulness of cleaning, 17. 

Climate, as modified by forest, 207 ; 
as modifying the trees and for- 
ests, see Temperature, 32 ; and 
moisture, 24, 

Coffee tree, 272. 

Cold, see Temperature, 32. 

Conifers, growth in height (leaders), 
17; are frugal, 20; in swamps, 
28 ; in cold regions, 34 ; cover the 



mountains, 38 ; not suited to 
coppice, 48 ; yield more log mate- 
rial than hardwoods, 64, 171; 
yield in cords per acre, 74 ; conif- 
erous seeds, 80 ; sowing in seed 
bed, 82 ; seedlings, their growth, 
85; numl)er of trees per acre in 
well-stocked woods, 102 ; more 
prone to fire, 104; logging of 
conifers, see Lumbering and Uses 
of wood ; coniferous lumber, 150; 
for prairie planting, 195 ; our 
coniferous forests, 210; how to 
distinguish, 240 ; wood and its 
uses, different kinds and their 
distributions, 261. 

Contents of trees (in lumbering), 
165. 

Cooperage stock, kinds of timber 
used, how gotten out, 149. 

Coppice woods, 45 ; what trees are 
suited, 46 ; yield of woods, 46 ; 
poor stumps, 47 ; how to cut the 
stumps in coppice, 47 ; tan-bark 
coppice, 50 ; rotation in coppice, 
50 ; standard coppice, 52. 

Cord as legal measure, 136. 

Cord wood, see Firewood, 136. 
.Creosote from wood, 144, 

Crowding, helps to clean trees of 
limbs, 16. 

Cruising, in timber, 165. 

Curly structure in wood, 226, 

Cuttings of willow and poplar, 79. 

Cypress, 29 ; knees, 31 ; how to dis- 
tinguish, 244 ; its wood and where 
it grows, 263. 



INDEX 



285 



Diffuse-porous woods, ^22. 

Doniiuaiit trees, 2. 

Doyle rule (scale rule), 173 ; table 

of, 259. 
Durability of woods, 230. 

Elm, how to distinguish, 246 ; the 
wood, the different kinds and 
their distribution, 272. 

Erosion or washing of the earth and 
how it is modified by the vegeta- 
ble cover, 203. 

Estimating and measuring timber, 
164; cruising, 165; contents of 
trees, 165 ; covering the entire 
forty, 167 ; calculations of vol- 
ume, 168; arrangement of note- 
book, 169 ; factor of shape (or 
taper), 170. 

Export timber, 147. 

Fir, red fir, how to distinguish, 
244 ; its wood, 267 ; white fir or 
balsam, see Balsam, 244, 263. 

Fire in forests, the greatest enemy, 
104 ; large fires in our times and 
country, 105 ; behavior of fires, 
106 : degi-ee of destruction, 106 ; 
how it starts, 108 ; a proper camp 
fire, 108 ; how to fight fires, 108 ; 
trenching and back fires, 110; 
fire lines, 110. 

Firewood, 136; measure, 136; 
weight, 138. 

Forest, as a protective cover, 203 ; 
how the water acts, how it is 
stored in the earth, and how it 



washes the layer in which it 
should be stored, 203 ; i-un-ott' on 
surface and underground, 204 ; 
how the forest modifies erosion, 
206 ; effect on climate, 207 ; 
experience abroad and in our 
country, 208 ; weeds and how they 
are killed, 4 ; reserves, 213. 

Forestry, general, 41 ; what it is, 
41-45. 

Forests of our country, 209 ; general 
description and division, 209 ; 
our hardwood forests, 212 ; our 
eastern belts of conifers, 212 ; 
amounts still left, 213 ; ownership 
of our forests, 213 ; forest reserves, 
213 ; state reserves and parks, 
214. 

Frost, injures trees; protection 
against, 112. 

Fungi, their usefulness in the woods 
and their destructiveness, 12 ; 
how the fungus acts, 230. 

Game and fish, 180 ; benefit from, 

number should be controlled ; 

feed for game, care of game, 

180. 
German forests and forestry, 216. 
Grain in wood, 224. 
Grazing in woods, 131, 178. 
Growth of trees, in height as seen 

from leaders, 18 ; of seedlings and 

sprouts, 17. 
Gum, how to distinguish, 250 ; the 

wood and its uses ; different kinds 

and their distribution, 273. 



286 



FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Hackberry, 274. 

Hardwoods, in ordinary wildwoods, 
1 ; require a loam or clay soil, 18 ; 
require a milder climate, 35 ; do 
not endure high altitudes, 38 ; in 
coppice, 46 ; in timber forest, 53 ; 
yield less log material than coni- 
fers, 64; seeds, 79; in nursery, 80; 
seedlings, 85 ; sowing in forest, 
92 ; more resistant to fire, 112 ; 
hardwood lumber, 158; hardwood 
forests of the United States, 210 ; 
how to distinguish different 
kinds, 246 ; the wood and its 
use, the different kinds and their 
distribution, 268. 

Heartwood, see Wood, 217. 

Heat and cold, see Temperature, 32. 

Hemlock, how to distinguish the 
tree, 242 ; its wood, the different 
kinds and their distribution, 263. 

Hickory, how to distinguish, 254; 
the wood, different kinds and 
where found, 274. 

History, a few notes on the history 
of forestry, 214 ; ancients appre- 
ciated forests, 214 ; old forests in 
Switzerland, 215; bad effects of 
deforestation in France, 216 ; Teu- 
tonic nations early lovers of the 
forests, forests of Germany, 216. 

Holly, 275. 

Ice, injurious to trees, protection 
against, 112. • 

Insects, injurious and helpful to for- 
est, 115 ; damage in the past, 116 ; 



how they .accomplish great dam- 
age, 117 ; different kinds of injury 
by insects, 118 ; the bark beetle 
and his work, 120 ; how to ward 
off and fight the bark beetle, 121 ; 
"trap trees," 122 ; moths and their 
larvae, 124; what caterpillars do, 
126 ; protection against cater- 
pillars, 126 ; enemies of the inju- 
rious insects, 128 ; the ichneumon 
fly and its work, 129 ; diseases help 
out in most insect calamities, 129. 

Intolerant trees, 4. 

Iron and wood compared, 232. 

Key to our common trees, 240 ; how 
to use the Key, 256. 

Knots, in trees, 9 ; in timber, struc- 
ture of, 226. 

Larch or tamarack, how to tell it, 
240 ; its wood, different kinds 
and where they grow, 264. 

Leaders of pine, etc., growth of, 18. 

Leaf beetle, see Insects, 119. 

Light and shade, 14; too much light 
encourages weeds and shrubs, 15 ; 
struggle for light, 16 ; a lack of 
liR-ht stunts but also cleans trees 
of limbs, 16. 

Limbs, how shed ; leading to knot 
holes and decay, 9. 

List of important woods and trees 
in the United States, 261. 

Lumber, 1.50; general term, 150; 
sizes and measurement, 150 ; rift 
and bastard, 151-153; grading 



INDEX 



287 



of lumber, 152 ; quantities used 
in our country, 152; how logged 
and lumbered, 153 ; white-pine 
lumber, 154 ; hard pine, longleaf, 
pitch pine, 154 ; yellow pine, 
155; spruce, 155; redwood, red 
fir, cypress, 156 ; liemlock, hard- 
woods, 158 ; advantage to carpen- 
ter and consumer of having stock 
sizes, 159 ; carpenter's lumber, 160. 

Lumbering, 133, 166; tools, 137; 
skidding, 138; scaling, 139; the 
landing, 141 ; - rolling in," 143 ; 
lumbering compared with farmer's 
use of woods, 61 ; lumbering not 
forestry, 41 ; lumbering the big 
tree, 157 ; lumbering cypress, 159 ; 
cooperative lumbering, 162. 

Lumberman, his method compared 
with that of farmer, 61. 

Maple, how to distinguish the trees, 
254 ; the wood and its uses, dif- 
ferent kinds and where they 
occur, 276. 

Measuring timber, 164 ; measuring 
diameter and height, 171, 172; 
measuring logs (scaling timber), 
172. 

Methods of reproduction, coppice 
or by sprouts, 45 ; by selection or 
picking over, 58 ; by starting the 
young growth under seed trees, 
64 ; by natural seeding from the 
side, 71 ; by artificial seeding and 
planting. 76 : methods compared, 
95 ; table of comparison, 96. 



Mining timber, 147. 

Mistletoe, 133. 

Moisture, its effect on woods, 24 ; 
transition from moist to dry dis- 
tricts, 24 ; lack of moisture leads 
to simple and stunted forests, 27 ; 
flooding may kill timber, 27 ; 
some trees are used to water, 28 ; 
swamp woods, 28 ; moist air fa- 
vors tree growth, 30. 

Moth and caterpillar, see Insects, 115. 

Mountains, the forests of high moun- 
tains become simpler upwards, 
38 ; conifers prevail at high alti- 
tude, 38 ; extreme height stunts 
and finally prevents tree growth, 
40. 

Mulberry, 276. 

Naval stores, industry of, see Resin 

and turpentine, 174. 
Non-porous woods, 222. 
Nursery work, gathering seed, 79 ; 

care of seeds, 80 ; seed beds, 82 ; 

sowing in seed bed, 82 ; quality of 

seeds, 84 ; yield of plants, 85 ; 

seedlings, 85; protection of, by 

screens, etc., 87 ; planting, 87 ; 

planting tools, 89 ; on prairies. 

89 ; shipment of plants, 89 ; spring 

and fall planting, 90. 

Oak, how to distinguish oaks, 248 ; 
the wood and its many uses, 
the different kinds and their dis- 
tribution, 277. 

Osage orange, 279. 



288 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Parks, state parks, 214. 

Pasturage in forests, 178 ; damage 
by browsing and trampling, 
where practiced, 178 ; where 
advisable, where it should be 
forbidden, 179. 

Persimmon, 279. 

Physical properties of wood, 227. 

Pine, white pine, yellow pine, etc., 
as lumber, 154 ; how to distin- 
guish pine, 240 ; list of different 
pines and description of their 
wood, 264. 

Pith rays in woods, 222. 

Plantations of trees on prairies, 195; 
much has been accomplished, 197 ; 
kinds raised and success, 196, 
197. 

Planting, see Nursery work, 87 ; 
tools, 89 ; on prairies, 89 ; diffi- 
culties, 89 ; spring and fall plant- 
ing, 90. 

Poles and piling, 146. 

Poplars and cottonwood, in the 
Key, 246 ; in the list of woods 
and kinds, 279. 

Pores in wood, 219. 

Posts, 144. 

Prairie plantations, see Plantations, 
195. 

Protection of forest, 97 ; again-st 
fire, 104 ; against storms, frost, 
snow, and ice, 112 ; against 
insects, 115; against larger ani- 
mals, 130; against grazing ani- 
mals, 131 ; against injurious 
plants, 131. 



Protective forests, 203. 
Pulp, wood pulp, how made, 140. 
Pulp wood, 140 ; kinds, sizes, and 
qualities, 140. 

Red fir, see Fir, 244, 267. 

Related topics, or matters akin to 
forestry, 203. 

Reproduction of the forest, in wild- 
woods, 2 ; in coppice, 45 ; in 
ordinary selection woods, 58 ; 
under seed trees, 64 ; by natural 
seeding from the side, 71 ; by 
artificial seeding and planting, 76. 

Ring-porous woods, 222. 

Resin and turpentine, 174 ; method 
of bleeding or tapping, 174 ; 
yield, 176. 

Rotation, 50. 

Run-off, surface and underground, 
204. 

Sand dunes, 198; where we have 
them, 198 ; what injury, 200 ; 
how reclaimed, 201. 

Saplings, 16. 

Sapwood, see Wood, 217. 

Sassafras, 280. 

Scale insect, 121. 

Scaling timber, see Measuring, 172. 

Second-growth wood, 138. 

Seed beds, see Nursery, 82. 

Seeding from the side, method of 
reproducing the forest, 71 ; how 
nature has done this in our coun- 
try, 71; how the timber should 
be cut, 72 ; width of stri])s, 73 ; 



INDEX 



289 



guarding against damage from 
storm, 72 ; regulation of work 
where large tracts are handled, 
73 ; yield that may be expected, 
74 ; what trees can be used, 75 ; 
experience in Europe with this 
system, 75 ; where it may be 
used with us, 70 . 
Seedlings, growth of, 17; iji seed 

bed, 85. 
Seeds of trees, 6 ; their care, 79 ; 
seed and mast as useful product, 
177. 
Selection forest, 58. 
Selection method, 58 ; an old 

method, 60. 
Shade, prevents weeds and pre- 
vents reproduction, 2 ; excessive 
shade kills, 16 ; helps to clean 
trees, 16 ; tolerance of ^hade, 4. 
Ship timber, 148. 
Shrinkage of wood, 228. 
Sihlwald, a forest under proi3er care 

for one thousand years, 215. 
Site is a combination of soil, mois- 
ture, temperature (climate), and 
other conditions which affect the 
growth of trees, 46. 
Slash, a piece of forest land strewn 
with the tops, limbs, and other 
debris of lumbering ; usually 
more or less burned, 43, 
Snow, injury from and protection 

against, 112. 
Soil, its eifect on the w-oods, 18 ; 
loam and clay soils produce mixed 
hardwoods, 11 ; sands produce 



l)ure stands of conifers, 20; 

•• hummock " soil, 20 ; what the 

forest does for the soil, 23. 
Special kinds of forests, 1 84 ; the 

wood lot, 184; waste lands, 194; 

prairie plantations, 195 ; sand 

dunes, 198. 
Spiral grain in wood, 225. 
Spring wood, 218. 
Sprouts from stumps grow faster 

than seedlings, 17. 
Spruce, how to distinguish, 242 ; 

the wood, the different kinds, 

w^here they grow^, 267 ; as lum- 
ber, 155. 
Stand of timber, mature stand and 

mixed stand, 2 ; pure stand, 20. 
Standard, 52. 

Standard coppice, see Coppice, 52. 
Storms, injury of, and protection 

against, 112. 
Strength of wood, 229. 
Strip method, see Seeding from the 

side, 71. 
Sugar bush, 54, 185, 187, 189. 
Summer wood, 218. 
Suppressed trees, 2. 
Swiss forestry, historic note of, 215. 
Sycamore, how to distinguish the 

trees, 248 ; the wood and the 

distribution of the trees, 280. 
Systems of forestry, see Methods of 

reproduction . 

Tables, of Doyle rule, 259 ; of cir- 
cles, 260. 
Tamarack, see Larcli, 240, 264. 



290 



FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Tail bark, coppice for, 50 ; how got 
out, 173. 

Tar from wood, 177. 

Temperature, how heat and cold 
affect the w^oods, 32 ; cold cli- 
mates produce simple woods and 
trees of small size, 32 ; temper- 
ate climates, more species, larger 
size, 34 ; hot climates, different 
species, great variety, 35 ; north 
or cold side of hill (north expo- 
sure) and high altitude act like 
cold climates, 36 ; extreme cold 
prevents tree growth, 37. 

Thinning, in timber forest, 56 ; 
thinning, in general, 98 ; which to 
take out, 99 ; it costs money to 
thin, 100 ; degree of thinning 
decided, 100 ; about how^ many 
trees to leave, 102 ; different kinds 
need different degrees of thinning, 
102. 

Timber cruising, 165. 

Timber forest, of ordinary hard- 
woods, 53 ; its border, 54 ; thin- 
ning in, 56 ; method of treating, 
58 ; kinds of trees to use, 59 ; 
difficulties, 59 ; an old method, 
60 ; system applied in United 
States, 60 ; preferably handled 
in an orderly way (regulated). 
64. 

Tolerant and intolerant trees, 4. 

Tough wood, 229. 

Trap trees, see Insects, 122. 

Trees, how to distinguish the most 
common ones, 238; leaves the 



principal help, 239 ; key to com- 
mon trees, 240 ; pine family, pine 
and larch, 240 ; spruce, hemlock, 
242 ; red fir, balsam, cypress, 
cedars, and redwood, 244 ; broad- 
leaved trees, beech, chestnut, 
birch, poplar, elm, bassw^ood, 246 ; 
cherry, sycamore, oak, 248 ; tulip 
or jrellow poplar, sweet gum, sas- 
safras, magnolia, sour gum, black 
gum or tupelo, 250 ; maple, 
catalpa, locust, walnut, hickory, 
and pecan, 254 ; ash, box elder, 
buckeye or horse-chestnut, 256 ; 
how^ to use the Key, 256 ; list of 
important trees of United States, 
261. 

Tulip poplar or yellow poplar, 281. 

Twisted grain in wood, 225. 

Under seed trees, method of start- 
ing young growth, 64 ; different 
cuts, 65 ; when seed trees should 
be removed, 66 ; what trees can 
be started in this way, 66 ; where 
the method is used, 66 ; where 
it may be used in our country, 
66 ; rotation in this system, 68 ; 
how to pick out the cuttings or 
felling area, 68 ; fail places should 
be filled, 70 ; application to large 
tracts, 71. 

Use of the forest, 133; to primitive 
man, 133 ; to human progress, 
133 ; firewood, 136 ; tools used 
in timber cutting, 137 ; pulp 
wood, 140; acid wood, 142 ; posts 



INDEX 



291 



(fence posts, etc.), 144 ; raihvay 
ties, 145; poles and piling, 140; 
mining timber, 147 ; export tim- 
ber, 147; lumber, 150; estimat- 
ing timber in lumbering, 164 ; 
tan bark, 17''); resin and turpen- 
tine, 174 ; seeds and mast, 177 ; 
pasturage, 178 ; game and fish, 
180. 

Walnut, black walnut and white 
walnut, 254, 281. 

Wastefulness of nature in wild- 
woods, 11. 

Waste lands, 193; where we have 
them, 193; how they have been 
utilized and made to bear valu- 
able crops, 194. 

Weight of wood, 227. 

AYildwoods, 1. 

Wood, a chapter on wood, 217 ; 
structural features, 217 ; sap and 
heart wood, 217 ; the yearly or 
annual ring, 217 ; spring and 
summer wood, 218; pores in 
wood, 219; ring-porous, diffuse- 
porous, and non-porous woods, 
222 ; pith rays, 222 ; grain of 
wood, 224 ; straight and spiral 
grain, 225 ; bird's-eye and curly 
structure, 226 ; knots in wood, 

226 ; physical properties of wood, 

227 ; weight of wood, 227 ; mois- 
ture in wood, 227 ; shrinkage of 



wood on drying, 228; checking 
during shrinkage, 228 ; strength 
of wood, 229 ; tough woods, 229 ; 
chemical properties, 230; dura- 
bility and decay of wood, 230. 

Wood acid or wood vinegar, 142. 

AVood and iron, a comparison of 
the two, 232 ; wood is a natural 
product, 232 ; wood is cheap and 
soft, cleaves, is strong, 233 ; wood 
is light, poor conductor of heat 
and electricity, 234 ; wood is inof- 
fensive and handsome, 235 ; wood 
can be glued, wood burns and fur- 
nishes heat, 236 ; wood can be 
made into pulp and converted 
into many useful substances, 237. 

Wood lot, or small tracts usually 
belonging to farms, 184; what 
to raise, 188 ; a sugar bush, 189 ; 
utilizing the timber, 190 ; actual 
results obtained, 191. 

Wood pulp, see Pulp wood, 140. 

Yearly or annual ring, 217. 

Yellow pine, see Lumber, 155. 

Yellow poplar, see Tulip poplar, 250, 
281. 

Yew, its wood and where found, 268. 

Yield or cut per acre that may be 
expected in coppice, 46 ; in pine 
timber, if fully stocked, 74 ; of 
log timber in hardwood and coni- 
fers, 64. 



OCT 9 ] 902 



.0^ 



> 




- s 




..^^ 


'% 


i \ "^ 




4. > 


**.■ 


\ 


1 /! , 






<*'<■ 









-^ 







'V'— ^\v<V>- 



^U^ o^ 



oV-' 









.x^' 






>^ '^ 



A . \ I B 



•^t/. A 






e>, * .0 N ^ ^>V^ 



'^: 



^<..<^'' 



'<'\ 




O V 



-^^ 




,-0^ 









o^ 



V 






r^.^v 



^%^^^"^ ,/" 






\Ky:r 



A' 



^^^% 



' /A 



\' \ 1 



A 






A^ , . ^ ■ " ^ ^ -Cp 



-f^ 



lV c 






A 



^^ 



^./o.o^ ,Nr„ v.o. 












V .^ 



"^ a\' 



-0^ 






A'^ 



^0 '^ 



,%:^«-^^/^f^-^ 






















^ -> c , ^ 









^ 



r-^- °.VjiF- .v' ^ 



A 







2 > 






^s^"^. 



■i ^ 






rp- y 



^-v^." J 



"-0^ 

A^^. 



I 



O 



-^ 



■e- * H ^ ,^ 



>■ 



^/ > 



V 



■>. 



'-^.^ 






a 
,0 ^ 



^* -^. 



^^^ f 5;.". ,- ^ 
^^ * ', V 



'^ i> Y *-^,. 






c. 



0^ .co-^^^.^r^'^^'V ^^^' 



.v^^'% 



\v -<^ 



0^ 



'^o V 



-^^ .^^ 







*-, -f^^ 



XX-^- 




-x 









<i>^ 



't^O^ 









o > 



x\^ 



-f. 



c^. 



,^^^. 












c^. 



^-^0^ 



'% '«'^'^'c>^"\. 



cJ>. 



<- ./■ 



x-!S' 






.^ '^r>. 






^^.^^ 



,x^"% 










^^^ 






/X 






4 o 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 818 636 8 






'.'1." '''"-v.'':-'''.'l4iJ(>5''i'''i',' 



•?':•'■:■?-••.*•;•■,-,•"■; 




Miif??ili 



